Data Management Glossary
Data Center Consolidation
Data center consolidation is the process of merging or reducing the number of data centers that an organization operates. The consolidation is typically done in order to reduce costs, increase efficiency, and simplify management of the data center infrastructure.
There are several steps involved in data center consolidation, including:
- Assessing the current state of the data center environment, including the number and locations of data centers, the types of systems and applications being used, and the costs associated with operating and maintaining the infrastructure.
- Developing a consolidation plan that outlines the goals, timelines, and resources needed for the project. This plan should include an analysis of the potential benefits and risks of consolidation, as well as a detailed roadmap for migrating applications and data to the new infrastructure.
- Migrating applications and data migration to the consolidated data center(s). This may involve re-architecting applications to run in a virtualized environment or on cloud infrastructure.
- Decommissioning or repurposing the legacy data center(s), including disposing of any equipment that is no longer needed.
- Continuously monitoring and optimizing the consolidated data center infrastructure to ensure it remains efficient and cost-effective.
Overall, data center consolidation can be a complex process that requires careful planning and execution. However, the benefits of consolidation can be significant, including lower costs, improved performance, and increased agility and flexibility for the organization.
In 2023, Komprise summarized the following customers trends in unstructured data management and storage.
- Simplifying infrastructure, getting rid of legacy apps and software and data center consolidation to support business growth and IT modernization.
- Reducing IT spending by pivoting to more of an OPEX environment and by deleting data that is no longer needed to reduce data storage costs and complexity.
- Managing research workflows and the full lifecycle of data: Examples include, from a major university: enabling users to share data between labs and send some data to the cloud for processing, then bring it back on-premises.
- Using industry standards to move data easily between platforms.
- Externalize (tier) data off NAS: IT and storage managers want to tier cold data from across the business to cheaper, secondary storage to save money and free up primary storage capacity.
Learn more about Komprise Elastic Data Migration and read 5 Industry Case Studies.
