As enterprise infrastructure moves towards cloud distributed application delivery, data centers are being transformed. Infrastructure and operations (I&O) leaders must transition to a hybrid model mindset where the presence of on-premises data centers is no longer the primary driver for infrastructure decisions.
I&O leaders are finding the data center more difficult to design and manage as workloads and infrastructure expand beyond traditional centralized locations. To solve this, a wider view of data center architecture and operations must be taken. I&O leaders must also automate the data center environment and acquire automation skill sets.
Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of organizations will implement structured infrastructure automation to deliver flexibility and efficiency, up from 20% in 2021.
The following actions will help I&O leaders as they transition from physical data centers to a modern operating model:
Integrate hybrid cloud into a holistic architectural approach
Hybrid cloud is rapidly emerging as an alternative to public cloud for mission-critical workloads and as-a-service offerings. Data center functions are no longer centralized in a physical location, but rather deployed to meet complex business requirements by utilizing cloud, data center, colocation and edge deployment locations.
I&O leaders must understand the effects of data center infrastructure distribution across their hybrid cloud. The physical data center footprint continues to be more concentrated and shrink as applications and services migrate to cloud-based platforms.
Infrastructure can no longer be viewed as individual components at the domain level but must be viewed strategically at the system level. This holistic approach ensures proper end-to-end design and management that will lead to efficient, simple, agile and secure operations.
Most organizations exist somewhere within a hybrid cloud model, in between the legacy on-premises data center and public cloud extremes. This blended environment of traditional, public and private cloud services will be the primary operating model out of necessity for at least the near term for most organizations because not all applications are able to be migrated to the public cloud.
In fact, Gartner estimates that only 50% of workloads will move to the cloud by 2025 and that only one-third of applications will remain on-premises beyond that.
I&O leaders must embrace the hybrid model by leveraging the efficiencies that can be gained through intelligent infrastructure-aided placement of the workloads they support.
Invest in infrastructure automation skills and tools
Infrastructure automation may be accomplished through platform-as-a-service offerings that are deployed with vendor-supplied automation software. Automation can also be achieved through off-the-shelf software designed specifically for enterprise environments. In either case, routine tasks can be offloaded to the software automation suite in order to provide operational efficiency and improved productivity by freeing IT teams from tasks that can be completed without human intervention.
Areas of automation such as artificial intelligence operations (AIOps) are being integrated into automation solutions to improve agility, ease of scale, error reduction and overall simplification of processes. Automated analytics monitor the infrastructure and help manage and maintain it much faster than a human operator is capable of doing. Additionally, AIOps self-management capabilities drive down costs and enhance agility. This technology will become more prevalent in enterprise networks over time to minimize outages and accelerate trouble ticket resolution time.
As enterprise operational and deployment models reach beyond public cloud to include hybrid cloud-based platforms for on-premises offerings, it is important for I&O leaders to expand deployment options by integrating hybrid cloud into a holistic architectural approach for application delivery.
The speed and scale of modern application deployments require infrastructure automation and I&O leaders must prepare their organizations by acquiring and sustaining necessary skill sets.
Jason Donham is a Senior Director Analyst at Gartner, where he focuses on datacenter technologies including virtualization and storage systems.
Industry Voices are opinion columns written by outside contributors—often industry experts or analysts—who are invited to the conversation by Silverlinings staff. They do not represent the opinions of Silverlinings.