Data-Center Service Providers: Ready for Transformation?

If your organization provides data-center hosting services, brace yourself. Due to changing customer demands, you’re about to need an entirely new infrastructure stack. So argues Chris Drake, a senior research director at market watcher IDC, in a recently published white paper sponsored by Supermicro and AMD, The Power of Now: Accelerate the Datacenter. Drake asserts that this new data center infrastructure stack will include new CPU cores, accelerated computing, rack-scale integration, a software-defined architecture, and the use of a micro-services application environment. So what’s driving the need for this new infrastructure stack? According to Drake, changing customer requirements. More specifically, a growing need for hosted IT requirements. Another driver: growing customer demand for raw compute power, a direct result of their adoption of new, advanced computing tools. What will building this new infrastructure stack entail? Drake points to 5 key elements: - Higher-performing CPU cores - Accelerated computing - Software-defined data center technology - A microservices application architecture - Plan for change To help service providers implement a successful modernization, Drake of IDC offers this 6-point action plan: 1. Develop a transformation road map 2. Work with a full-stack portfolio vendor 3. Match accelerators to your workloads 4. Seek suppliers with the right experience 5. Select providers with supply-chain ownership 6. Create a long-term plan