Technologies change at a rapid pace, new innovations and improvements to existing platforms are made at record speed these days. This makes it tough for SMBs to keep up with ever changing technologies to determine what works best for their infrastructure. Strategic IT planning needs to be re-assessed on a regular basis.

Below are some of the latest trends to be aware of in the IT marketplace:

Cloud Technologies

• No more hardware!  At each refresh cycle, dollars are shifting from CapEx to OpEx, relieving the need for constant equipment spend and enabling increased investment back into the business.
• IaaS, PaaS, SaaS and DaaS are all making a huge impact.  Application performance and reliability at the best price drive deployment model decisions. Cloud spend is predicted to grow 25%, to $100 Billion in 2014, as an increasing number of providers with a widening array of products enter the marketplace.
• Emerging open source cloud platforms like OpenStack and Cloud Foundry allow IT organizations to enable business agility and technology innovation, while preventing vendor lock-in.

Data Center Improvements

• New data center green initiatives have improved energy efficiency and driven client cost savings – in the sub $200 per kW range (“all-in” price for space, power and cooling).  Negotiating an “all in” price is the new industry standard and best practice.
• Wholesale capacity + E (metered power) pricing models have moved into the enterprise space. Enterprise companies are now taking advantage of these new models to avoid over-paying on underutilized services.
• Selecting data center providers based on their established eco-system model (connectivity to Clouds, Hybrid enablement, and client to client connectivity) – to improve application delivery performance and increase business agility.

Network Connectivity

• As the rates for private lines have fallen, enterprise companies are no longer relying on the Internet’s SLA for connectivity between data centers.  For example, a 1 Gig SEA – London for under $2500/month & 10G SEA-Tukwila under $2200/month.
• The arrival of global IP providers utilizing their peering agreements domestically has led to a further drop in IP pricing out of data centers – under $2.50/meg for a 1Gig commit.
• Enterprise companies with over 4 10Gig circuits have begun investigating 100G ports and dark fiber.

Compliance and Security Updates

• Data center and Cloud service providers are adding regulatory core competencies, with practice areas in PCI, HIPAA and FedRAMP.  More of the compliance and audit burden is offloaded onto the provider, allowing the IT organization to focus on innovation and business success.
• Achieving compliance does not equate to impervious security.  As we have seen from the numerous data breaches that bring millions in fines and tarnished brand image, compliance and security best practices must be applied across the organization.
• DDoS mitigation, hosted firewall, managed security, and Cloud-based WAN optimization, bring new deployment options to address ongoing and emerging pain points.

The above areas are a few of the changes that we’ve seen in the marketplace lately. Ultimately, each company is unique and a through infrastructure assessment is needed to determine what solution is right for your company.

StrataCore provides network and commercial data center consulting and brokering services to enterprise companies based in the Pacific Northwest. As part of our process, we work with executives to complete an IT assessment to determine the best solution for each client.

Our strategic relationships with over 400 service providers across the globe give us insight into the latest technology trends to ensure your company’s unique business requirements are satisfied.

About the Author:

Lee Pallat, Director of Cloud Strategy

Lee is responsible for assisting account managers with acquisition, selection and implementation of all cloud-based opportunities. Lee excels at developing relationships with providers, partners, and key industry leaders to drive StrataCore’s cloud strategy and mission.

Prior to joining StrataCore, Lee was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Digital Fortress where he was instrumental in combining then managing two post-merger sales organizations.