Beyond Converged Infrastructure: The Next Generation of IT Mark S A Smith

The big IT deals these days are infrastructure refreshes with a converged data center architecture. Yet, what lies beyond this? You can create new value by looking beyond today's offerings and and offer architectures that create powerful differentiation and real business value. Yet you'll have to do it in a new and different way. In this session, you'll discover the attitudes and actions that set you apart from the competition to gain most-trusted status with your customers.

Objective Predict what’s coming in IT Get ready for the rapid changes Start working with strategies to take advantage of the big shift.

Customer challenges… Work from any where at any time Transition from Client – Server to Mobile – Cloud Always-on IT: no downtime permitted More IT complexity Way more data: Backup and storage availability Data not in a place to analyze it.

Customer challenges Not enough room in the data center Not enough bandwidth to and from the cloud Not enough skilled labor Growing security challenges Budget restrictions – Opex and Capex.

Executive challenges Getting insights fast enough BI savvy competitors Drowning in data Aging data Business agility Simplify the customer experience Reducing costs Increasing unique value Scaling the business.

Today’s IT architecture

Traditional data center challenges Aging infrastructure – Basic architecture is decades old Wide range of expertise required for successful operation Lots of legacy technology Pools of interconnected technology Interconnections are expensive and create points of failure.

The current attempt to solve this problem: Virtualized servers – Virtual appliances Virtualized storage Software defined networks Blade servers Converged data center infrastructure.

Converged data center solutions…

Converged data center solutions

The current attempt to solve this problem: Cloud services – IaaS – PaaS – XaaS

What your customers really want Less of the stuff: less complexity, less cost, less space, power, & cooling Cloud-like deployment on local systems Full integration of local, cloud, and mobile infrastructure Seamless collaboration – Video, phone, documents Usable BI insights and alerts.

It’s time to reinvent the data center… Cloud-in-a-box On-site deployment or co-lo Application-specific Application-agnostic Cloud payment model 100% remote management.

It’s time to reinvent the data center: Software Defined Data Center Virtual servers, storage, and networking in one box Rapid deployment and redeployment Template-based application deployment Business-function driven deployment Located on-site or at a co-lo – Internet bandwidth dependent Less than one rack for most mid- market customers.

New data center building blocks 100 virtual servers TB flash + switch in 2U for $200k $2k per server + software: <$200/month Lots of fast, low power processors Flash memory Built-in networking All virtualized Self configuring and self healing All controlled remotely High availability: fans are the only moving parts.

New data center challenges Collapse of data center boundaries and politics CIO = Career is Over CIO = Change in Orientation Concerns about availability – New vendors – New technologies – New proceedures Not business as usual – For Vendors – For Partners.

Two recent product introductions: 50 TB of flash storage Product E 15x more power 44x more cables Product N

Flash storage market share isn’t dominated by the traditional vendors Source: Gartner, June 2013

Your big opportunity Time to claim leadership and help form your customer’s vision of IT Create business innovation Business process consulting and innovation.

What to do differently Stop talking about solutions and start talking about business outcome Talk with the executives and leaders about their business vision not about their IT needs Identify outcomes, priorities, and criteria Talk in phases, timelines, and deadlines Deliver the infrastructure to execute the executive vision.

Questions to ask… “What is your vision for your business over the next three to five years?” “What could hold you back from achieving that vision?” “What do you need to have in place for that vision to be reality?” “What has to be invented to get you there?” “What frustrations do you have with your current business systems that need to be resolved to proceed with your plans?”

Questions to ask “What can you automate to speed delivery, reduce costs, and increase consistency?” “When was the last time you reviewed your business processes?” “What concerns do you have about your business systems?” “What would things be like if they worked perfectly?”

Positioning yourself Experienced in delivering IT in all varieties: traditional, cloud, blended systems, collaboration, mobile Deep network of resources to solve unique situations We take a holistic view and focus on growing our customer’s business by judicious application of IT.

Discussion guide Discuss the business process Value creation – Collaboration Marketing – Marketing automation – Big data BI Sales – Collaboration Customer service – Quick solution discovery – Collaboration Service delivery – Approaching instant delivery

Why you have an innovative opportunity You have a glimpse at the future – Moore’s law is accelerating – Small companies could eclipse large vendors Most partners will do business as usual Small companies will have the IT same advantage as big companies The innovators are going to win this game.

Your action plan

Make the Transition from Manager to Leader Tuesday 4:45 pm Rancho Santa Fe 2