According to a recent article in TechTarget, “From 2015 to 2020, we’ll see the highest rate of change in almost every area, excluding dinosaur legacy gear and much of what makes networks, servers, and storage tick will alter drastically in that time frame.” Make sure your data center is ready by focusing on its network, software, hardware (including servers), and storage. Future proofing these crucial components of your data center will mean it will run smoothly for years to come.
Take a look at the latest from Intel on the topic of the “Data Center Architecture of the Future.”
Read on to learn about what the data center of the future will look like:
Hyper Convergence Infrastructure Systems
With the different types of infrastructure systems, hyper-converged infrastructure systems are gaining momentum among data center operators as the infrastructure system of choice. Hyper-converged infrastructure systems are software driven systems that combine networking, storage, and other technology to enable the virtualization of the infrastructure system. The system utilizes commodity computing to streamline processes and maintain lower operating costs. A hyper-converged system is administered by an individual hosting company and is essentially the clustering of services and resources into a single system. To be sure, critics question the ability of hyper-converged systems to keep up with technological advances considering the number of different components bundled into one system. Still, hyper-converged systems do offer cost savings and promise to be easier to operate. For now, the ability of that comes with hyper-converged systems will continue to be an attractive option for data centers.
Top Tip: There are few valuable benefits while using hyper-converged infrastructure products within your data center, including ease of deployment, ease of management and lower cost.
Automation Tools for Data Centers
The utilization of automation tools is critical for your data center if you hope to prepare for the future. Automation simplifies complex processes and enables administrators to focus on the overall performance of the data center. In addition to being cost effective with less human control, data centers have tighter security when it comes to exposure to sensitive data and information.
Top Tip: Automation is a critical component of any modern data center. Any research you do in this space will argue that you cannot effectively have your data center running smoothly in the cloud (public or private) if automation is not part of your strategy. In fact, “If you look at the modern data center and cloud landscape you’ll notice a lot more interconnectivity and new capabilities to pass resources dynamically. The interesting piece here is how all of these technologies, which are currently influencing the end user and corporation, are directly pushing for the evolution of the modern data center through data center automation.”
Open (Source) Standards
The notion of open standards or open source resources came about when software developers and other IT professionals dedicated their hard work to providing free software to the masses. 
Today, open standards encompass software, hardware, and other technological functions. The purpose of open standards is to foster public computing by granting administrators access to free resources. This is, of course, highly advantageous to data center operators as the money saved can be invested into different resources and necessities required for the operation of the data center. Typically, open source resources run on any commodity hardware, thus allowing free access. This ultimately means hyper-converged infrastructure systems and open resources go hand-in-hand. Most recently, cloud computing resources were made available through commodity hardware.
Top Tip: In 2016, open source is changing the very foundations of the modern data center. A recent article argued, “From innovation at every physical layer of the data center coming out of Facebook’s Open Compute Project to the revolution in the way developers treat IT infrastructure that’s being driven by application containers.” Adoption of open source practices will continue to transform the modern data center ensuring it is ready for the technological changes coming down the pipeline.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing revolutionized how to receive, send, and share information and data. Developing a software-driven infrastructure system allows for more freedom and accessibility concerning the delivery of your information. Cloud computing revolutionized how to receive, send, and share information and data. Developing a software-driven infrastructure system allows for more freedom and accessibility about the delivery of your information. In the same vein, cloud computing puts the power back in the administrators and their client’s hand. Technically, cloud computing is already here, and may not represent the future for you. Despite its existence, many companies are still adapting to this form of data and information sharing.
Software Advances
Newer and better software is continuously coming out. Stay vigilant about updates and new software for the optimal performance for your data center. Along with software, networking is another vital component of the hassle free operation of a data center. Advances in Ethernet networking protocols, for instance, may be something you are unaware of but can very beneficial to your data center. Keeping yourself informed and educated will guarantee you are not left behind.
Top Tip: Gartner, the pre-eminent global analyst firm, stated back in 2015 that the future of the data center is “Software-Defined”. In their theory, CIOs and CTOs have been advised to adopt SDDC (software-defined data center) methods with care and strategically. Check out what analysts have to say about technology trends before moving forward with any major changes, but you can’t go wrong with Gartner’s advice.
Incorporate these changes into your data center management plan to ensure you and your IT team have a strategy for the best way forward for your organization.
