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Call it the “next-generation data centre.” Call it the “lights-out data centre.” Whatever you call it, the data centre has been under intense pressure to become both a model of thrift and an engine for business growth for years now. And for years, the response to these contradictory pressures has been piecemeal fixes, many of which introduce their own issues.

Need more computing power in less space? Pack more equipment into the existing data centre room and watch electricity bills soar, experience power-related service outages or run out of space.

The fact is it’s not possible to respond effectively to the data centre double-bind – do more, spend less – with bandages, bubble gum and paper clips. Getting to the next-generation data centre from where you are today requires a comprehensive plan. Call it a data centre transformation.

Enterprises today are under more pressure than ever. Global competition intensifies yearly. Shareholders demand higher returns. Customers expect more service, better products and constant access to information and services. 

As a result, businesses are under intense pressure to make their data centres more efficient and effective. That translates into pressure on technology, the chief information officer and the data centre.

“CIOs clearly feel this change coming,” analyst firm Gartner reports in Making the Difference: The 2008 CIO Agenda. “Eighty-three percent of them predict significant change in their enterprises over the next three years – change such as implementing new products and opening new markets,” the report reads.(1)

» Read more about how IT can do more and spend less.

1 Gartner, Inc., Making the Difference: The 2008 CIO Agenda (Stamford, Conn.: Gartner Inc., 2008)