A successfully implemented converged infrastructure in your data center is not a destination. It is a process: More accurately, it is a set of processes, procedures, guidelines and configurations that allow your IT environment to respond more effectively to change.
Change is not going to stop. Your technology will change. You’ll probably want to buy bigger servers, for example, to take advantage of economies of scale, and faster networks to boost bandwidth. The modular nature of a converged infrastructure will make changing technology easier.
Cloud computing is on your horizon, if not already raining on your parade. That’s going to bring change. A converged infrastructure does not provide all the features of cloud computing but it does enable cloud computing and will make leveraging a range of cloud options an easier transition.
Business agility
The hot buzzword in the business press today is agility; the ability of a business to respond rapidly and cost efficiently to changes in the business environment. A characteristic of business agility is that it makes change a routine part of organizational life. In many ways, business agility is the business counterpart to a converged infrastructure. Both have a little of the feel of controlled chaos about them.
IT policies and procedures used to be geared to maintain the status quo. The policies and procedures you need to put in place for your converged infrastructure should be designed to ensure that purposeful, constant controlled change and not the status quo.
In case you want to review, here are the previous articles in this series:
Why Can’t We all Just Get Along? – Part 1/6
https://cioupdate.com/trends/article.php/3906866/Why-Cant-We-all-just-Get-Along
How to Sell the CEO on Change – Part 2/6
https://cioupdate.com/trends/article.php/3913161/How-to-Sell-the-CEO-on-Change.htm
It Always Comes Down to People – Part 3/6
https://cioupdate.com/features/article.php/3922686/It-Always-Comes-Down-to-People.htm
Don’t Let Your Legacy Become Your Legacy – Part 4/6
https://cioupdate.com/features/article.php/3927336/Dont-Let-Your-Legacy-Be-Your-Legacy.htm
Converged Infrastructure: Trash Day – Part 5/6
https://cioupdate.com/trends/article.php/3930196/Converged-Infrastructure-Trash-Day.htm
Brandon Harris is Vice President of HP Solutions at Logicalis, an international provider of integrated information and communications technology solutions and services, where he is responsible for the relationship between HP and Logicalis and the overall support and growth of the HP business within Logicalis. Mr. Harris has been with Logicalis seven years. Before joining Logicalis he held positions in technical management and sales with divine/marchFIRST and Arrow Electronics where he managed the operations side of the reseller business, built a technical presale team, and was a presale technician himself.