At Gartner's 26th Annual Data Center Conference, we will be introducing our Infrastructure & Operations Maturity Model (IOMM). When it comes to I&O, we know of no other similar model that comes close to the IOMM in providing a comprehensive self-assessment. For example, most maturity models focus only on process, but we have extended the maturity model concept to cover all four of the critical dimensions of I&O: process, people, technology and business management. Not only does the IOMM provide the kind of detailed evaluation that I&O leaders tell us they want, but it provides top-level recommendations for improvement - based on your responses. So that you can develop a detailed road map, each recommendation is tied to at least one Gartner research report that provides additional detail.

There are several opportunities at the conference to become more familiar with the IOMM’'s capabilities:

• On Monday, at 9:30 a.m.AM PST, Donna Scott and I will provide you an IOMM overview in a keynote presentation.


• At the Gartner for IT Leaders demonstration area, ask about running the IOMM live! (You can sign up to conduct a self-assessment of the critical People Management dimension of the IOMM; it will take about 20 minutes to run the IOMM People Management Module. The complete IOMM [(all four modules)] will be available to Gartner for IT Leaders clients as a Web-based interactive tool in late January 2008.)


• On Thursday at 6:00 p.m.PM PST, I will be conducting a round table on the IOMM. (Attendance is limited; advanced sign-up is required.)

We are looking for the IOMM to be the linchpin of several research directions we take in I&O. For example, when we have sufficient responses to the IOMM, we plan to publish a "state of I&O" report based on what you, our clients, have told us (of course, all client-specific evaluation data is kept confidential; we will only be presenting aggregate results).

So … check out the IOMM, and let us know what you think!

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Author: Mike Chuba, Conference Co-chair

It seems a week doesn’t go by without some vendor making a major virtualization announcement. Consider that on November 12, at Oracle Openworld, Oracle jumped into the fray with the announced availability of Oracle VM, a virtual machine (VM) product based on the Xen open-source technology. Expect to see late-breaking analysis of this announcement at the conference as part of our track on the topic of virtualization.

And plan to spend time at our Solution Showcase. We will have approximately 100 sponsors exhibiting on our showroom floor – many of them with new and notable solutions and unveiling new offerings and services. And you can expect a number of them to be addressing virtualization management.

It is not too late to join us in Las Vegas. Register now @ gartner.com.

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I am not addressing those of you with messy offices – but rather those of you with organizational responsibility for storage. We have an exciting addition to our coverage of the topic of storage at this year's conference.

Whether it is the issue of increasing storage capacity requirements, improved storage networking, disciplined storage management or real-time storage, storage is at the forefront of many of the issues that Data Center and IT Operations executives face. Demand for storage continues to explode and organizations must wrestle with the issues surrounding managing all this data; how best to archive it, retrieve it, secure it, share it, manage it. In addition to our full track of presentations, we've added two unique Town Halls that will give you the opportunity to ask our panel of Gartner storage experts for their insights. Don't miss out on the Gartner event with the greatest depth of coverage on the topic of storage.

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VMware just reported the results of its first financial quarter since its Initial Public Offering this summer. Sales in the quarter were up 90 percent over the third quarter of 2006. Just further evidence of how hot the virtualization market is right now.

But this market is moving fast: the technology is evolving, the players are changing and the value proposition is shifting. We have all aspects of it covered in our new Virtualization track at this year's Data Center conference. I have been busy reviewing the presentations and our analysts have some great insight they will be delivering on stage. If your organization is spending not just money, but considerable time and energy on virtualization, do you have a long term strategy? Don't take any unnecessary gambles – the sure bet is the Gartner analysis and advice you will get when you join us in Las Vegas.

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Here is some practical advice for attendees visiting Las Vegas for the first time: you don't need to buy a round of drinks for everyone at the table when you get dealt blackjack – the drinks are free!

You also don't need to buy a round of drinks for your peers when you interact with them in one of our Analyst/User Roundtables. These 60 minute sessions have proven to be a valuable aspect of the conference experience, allowing you to interact with peers dealing with similar issues in a session facilitated by a Gartner analyst. We've currently got 15 of these sessions scheduled at this year's event. Check out the list of topics. Pre-registration is required and attendance is limited, so consider signing up today!

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One of the more popular attractions on the Las Vegas strip is Madame Tussauds Wax Museum. One of the hottest rumors is that some of our most famous Gartner analysts are candidates to be immortalized next to Elvis, Madonna & Britney.

But remember the big difference between seeing the analysts at Madame Tussauds and meeting them face-to-face is that at the conference, you could schedule a 30 minute one-on-one session with an analyst and they will actually respond to your questions!

One-on-ones are one of our most popular conference features, allowing attendees to tailor the content in analyst presentations to their specific issues. Many of our most in-demand analysts end up doing over 30 of these sessions over the course of the conference.

Sign up for your one-on-one here.

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Growing energy consumption by large data centers is a real and critical problem that must be faced.

Why are companies looking at "green" data centers? For most it is really about self-preservation by trying to reduce the rapidly growing impact of the cost of power for data center hardware, supporting infrastructure (UPSs, generators, PDUs) and cooling. Most organizations have not suddenly become "tree huggers." Were it not for the growing cost and scarcity of electrical power few would be concerned enough about CO2 emissions to spend significant funds on environmentally friendly initiatives. Many times vendors rush to show off their environmental efforts - that when looked at with some scrutiny - show up as simply "green wash." There is a problem with energy consumption and efforts must be made to address the issues. What shade of green is your data center and corporate policy? Come and discuss the issue with your peers and attend a special presentation on Friday morning on "Greening" the Data Center.

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Gartner estimates that more than 70% of the world's Global 1000 organizations will have to modify their data center facilities significantly during the next five years. The U.S. has the biggest concentration of large (greater than 50,000 square foot) data centers, the majority of which were built more than seven years ago. Their design envelope is insufficient to handle new servers' current and future energy needs.

What’s a CIO and the Data Center manager to do? Start paying attention to the details, as there are ways to make existing data centers much more efficient, without a high level of expenditure. Start monitoring energy usage at the PDU level to map where the peaks and valleys are - and then adjust resources accordingly. Monitor energy flows across time Keep tight tolerances on both temperature and humidity, insuring your cooling infrastructure is working at peak performance. Design for efficiency, not for the average – keeping a critical eye on long term growth and equipment placement, optimizing the floor space and P&C capacity that you already have. And attend the Gartner Data Center Conference to hear about innovative approaches to your problems from Gartner analysts, our sponsors and your peers.

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There is some debate within the marketplace about the need to manage heterogeneous virtualization platforms in a holistic fashion, i.e., usually through some sort of a common GUI. Our data to date shows that there is indeed a desire by end users to do this, but it may separate along the lines of managing all Intel variations versus also including the management of platforms such as Solaris Containers, AIX Micro-Partitions, etc. We often see the UNIX-based virtualization platforms staffed by a separate IT organization. What are your needs within your environment - do you want to manage (and administer) all flavors of virtualization from a common interface? We'll be reviewing how the offerings from virtualization management vendors may or may not be facilitating this at the upcoming Gartner Data Center Conference.

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Times have changed - especially in the backup world. It was not long ago that backup was essentially one thing: a nightly (often around midnight) capture of data that was written directly to tape. Computing platforms have changed and the available technology - and the cost of that technology - has changed dramatically as well. Just as we have tiered storage that provides a variety of cost and performance levels for storage capacity, we now see the potential for tiered recovery that offers different levels of backup/recovery protection. We'll explore new technologies and vendors that participate in the evolving data protection market at the Gartner 26th Annual Data Center Conference.

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How can I get Service Level Agreements to work for me? Meaningful Service Level Agreements (SLA) consume a significant amount of IT resources. They require negotiation with the business regarding expected service levels, contracts, and often involve new metrics and measurements, reporting, and continual improvement. Often we hear that the business doesn't care about SLAs or worse yet that the business uses SLAs to batter the IT organization. Developed and used incorrectly, SLAs can actually do more harm than good. Why even bother with SLAs? Well, if nothing else, well crafted SLAs can be used as an effective marketing tool to show the business that IT is working on their behalf and is aligned to their needs. Are you struggling with getting the most out of your Service Level Agreements? Let us know. And check out the content in our IT operations and best practices tracks at this year's conference.

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Disaster recovery (DR) often appears to be the process discipline that has the largest challenge keeping up with the times. For so many years, the problem has been getting senior management to realize the contribution of bottom-line-effective DR to the business. Now, after September 11, 2001, and the business devastation caused by both natural and manmade disasters, recognition of DR as a critical IT process is gaining ground. Having an effective backup strategy and DR plan are essential to ensuring that the organization can recover in times of crisis. Testing DR plans is a "must do" and not a "would like to do" — without testing, the plan is worth as much as the paper it is written on. When was your last DR test, and how did it go? Let us know. And plan to attend some of our sessions in our BC/DR track to learn best practices that will ensure that your DR test provides the organization with a realistic view of the state of your plan and how to ensure continued success as your own business practices change over time.

Hear a podcast entitled Effective Disaster Recovery Strategies hosted by Joseph Baylock, Gartner VP.

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Are you a member of the elite club – Third Generation Linux? We’ll discuss how to get a grip on the slippery slope of a development community which hates roadmaps and go out on a limb with our own. If you are in the midst of planning virtualization – and who isn't – but particularly inclusive of Linux, you will want insight into the battle brewing between the Xen hypervisor and KVM. But to make a truly valid comparison, you will need to know how Linux is doing against the best-of-breed Unix. In "Planning a Third Generation Linux Enterprise," we will give you six interesting case examples of users' experiences, some of which may surprise you. One will be a user who "swore off Solaris forever" only to return to Sun and become a member of the converted. Let us know if you've deployed Third Generation Linux in your enterprise – maybe we'll include it in a future Gartner Spotlight.

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Configuration (and related change) management seems to be a topic of growing interest with respect to virtualization management. Many end users tell us they want to do a better job of managing VM sprawl, to have better control with respect to VM (and template) modification, to have more insight into VM dependencies, to track VM movement to perform more precise problem management, etc. How do you see this issue arising within your organization. Have you had to modify any of your configuration (or related) management processes to account for a more dynamic and temporal environment? We'll be exploring this and other virtualization management topics at the upcoming Gartner Data Center Conference.

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For those of you that have VMware, you are probably using products such as VirtualCenter to manage and administer the environment. VirtualCenter has many excellent capabilities, but we also know about some limitations. It has limited visibility into what is happening within the VM guest, it doesn't provide much insight into the SAN environment, and at least today, you cannot federate multiple instances (i.e., consoles). Are there other areas that you'd like to see VMware improve VirtualCenter's management capabilities? We'll be exploring this as well as the offerings from other management vendors at the upcoming Gartner Data Center Conference.

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August has been a busy month in the virtualization space. Citrix Systems spent $500 million to acquire up-and-coming virtualization vendor XenSource, right on the heels of the wildly successful IPO by VMWare. Both of these developments have gotten tremendous visibility – not just in the technology press, but in the general business press as well.

Why is Citrix paying a 500x multiple against sales to acquire XenSource and what does this mean for the open source community? What is VMWare going to do with the $900 million now lining its pockets from the IPO? How will these developments impact Microsoft and potential users of its Viridian hypervisor? How will these events impact your plans with virtualization and future directions? Let us know.

Where will the next shoe drop? You can expect our analysts to provide their insight in our virtualization track at the Gartner Data Center conference.

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Disaster recovery and business continuity planners often ask us how they can gain management commitment. Enterprises with the best business continuity and disaster recovery practices have a corporate culture espousing availability and an understanding of the costs associated with business process outages. These enterprises also realize that following a well-defined process when disaster strikes is significantly better (resulting in less downtime and costs) than trying to respond to an incident in crisis mode without the benefit of planning, coordination and testing.

Are you struggling to get the necessary funding? Let us know. Business continuity and disaster recovery planners attending our BC/DR track will learn ways to enlighten the executive team and shore up necessary commitment.

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Few challenges, if any, in the IT infrastructure rival the complexity associated with the storage infrastructure. Data-created content is ubiquitous, richly layered and immensely complex. Databases are now and will continue to be "open" 24x7. Local and global networks will continue to expand. A typical user will manipulate multiple kinds of business data at multiple locations using multiple devices. Within this global network, corporate and consumer data will be increasingly "mobile" and "accessible," complicating the storage landscape. And new regulations regarding the preservation and encryption of corporate data will serve to further complicate storage requirements in many commercial markets. What kinds of changes to your storage infrastructure are you planning to effectively service this enormous network? Let us know. And plan to attend the sessions in our Storage Track at the Gartner Data Center Conference – the most comprehensive coverage of storage at any Gartner event.

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Our first posting focused on the topic of virtualization and the coverage at this year’s event. About the same time,the Wall Street Journal published an article on June 26th on the battle brewing between VMWare and Microsoft in the virtualization software space. You can expect our content to provide detailed analysis of how this battle is likely to play out in the next few years, as well as a more detailed analysis of other established vendors and new market entrants. Are you waiting for Microsoft before you commit to virtualization software? Is VMWare a tactical opportunity or a strategic partner? Let us know. And be sure to see what our analysts have to say at this year’s conference.

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Did you ever get that "deer-in-the-headlights" feeling? IT infrastructure and operations management professionals have never been under so much pressure — for 24/7 availability and extreme quality of service, while at the same time reducing cost; to manage constant change from internal and external sources; to align IT services with the business requirements; and to implement business practices through process definition and maturity, such that they can make business-level decisions on IT service pricing, packaging, sourcing and other trade-offs. The right investments in people, processes, technologies and business management functions are critical to move you toward a service-aligned or business partnership level of maturity. Where are you placing your biggest bets? Let us know. And one good way to hedge your bet is to check out the content you can expect in our IT operations and best practices tracks at this year's conference.

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