Migrate from a Proprietary Server Architecture? - Open Systems Provide Way to Exit Money Pit

Third party information provided to you courtesy of Dell.Migrate from a Proprietary Server Architecture? - Open Systems Provide Way to Exit Money Pit TM
C lippVENeDOR-ArGNO STNIC EXPLAoNATIOtNS AeND ADsVICE SM SM FOR THE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY BUYER Navigating Information Technology HorizonsPublished Since 2007 Report #TCG2009023LD May 27, 2009
Migrate from a Proprietary Server Architecture?
- Open Systems Provide Way to Exit Money Pit Analyst: David Reine
Management Summary If it ain't broke, don't fix it! How many times have we heard that old saw? A common example of this is the family automobile. Most new cars come with at least a 3 year, 36,000 mile warranty. We expect no major maintenance hits to our wallets during the warranty period outside of the period-ic oil change and 6,000 mile checkups. After the warranty expires, however, normal maintenance can get expensive, as is extending the warranty. Without the extension, however, finding a shop to even work on an old car can become an adventure. We have a decision to make: do we keep on driving "old reliable" or do we make a major invest-ment in a new ride? Making a major investment seems like a hurdle that we do not want to face, esp-ecially in a down economy, even though a new car has much to offer. Unfortunately, if you need that old car to commute to work, it becomes mission-critical. However, as maintenance bills grow, how much will you spend on "normal" maintenance before that proverbial hammer hits you on the head? Then you have to address the subject of the price of gas and a mileage rating of 15 to 18 MPG. To-day cars can get better than 30 MPG and are environmentally friendly. What is it costing to keep on doing the same thing? Eventually, the time and money spent in the garage and at the gas station will convince you when it is time to replace your car. A similar, and more profound, scenario is playing out in the data center of every enterprise, large or small, that has a proprietary legacy server infrastructure in place. These servers may only be three or five years old, or they could be 15 years old. They just sit there in the data center, or in the corner of an office, and purr away. The IT department may not even know what they are costing the company in terms of real dollars. The accounting department pays the maintenance bills, as they have since the warranty expired. Okay, the bills have gone up 5% every year, but what hasn't? Unfortunately, other invisible costs of inefficiency are associated with "staying the course". Does anyone know how old the applications are or the continuing costs of support? How many lines of code are running your sensitive mission- and business-critical applications with no one around to change a single line when a policy change forces an update to the application? What is the cost to maintain the applications? Moreover, what is the impact of your IT infrastructure on the monthly energy bill? Systems designed before the energy crisis and the advent of multi-core CPUs did not account for the cost of electricity in their design specs. In this down economy, now is the time IN THIS ISSUE to examine the total cost of ownership (TCO) ¾ The Legacy Data Center Money Pit .......2 of your proprietary server infrastructure and ¾ migrate to a more cost-effective open systems Migration Benefits...................................3 ¾ platform designed for tomorrow. If this hits Migrating from Proprietary to Open ......4 ¾ home for you, please read on. Conclusion ..............................................6
‹The Clipper Group, Inc. - Technology Acquisition Consultants Strategic Advisors ‹ ‹ ‹ ‹ ‹888 Worcester Street Suite 140 Wellesley, Massachusetts 02482 U.S.A. 781-235-0085 781-235-5454 FAX ‹Visit Clipper at www.clipper.com Send comments to editor@clipper.com TMMay 27, 2009 Clipper Notes Page 2
The Legacy Data Center Money Pit mance that they have today, along with the same The data center of many enterprises contains performance per watt achieved today, or they a heterogeneous mix of both proprietary and can invest in an upgrade to current SPARC off-open systems platforms. The open systems ser- erings. However, knowing that there may be no, vers, many of them less than three years old, or limited, enhancements in the future, a migra-usually are based ... [download for more]