Sometimes, the best way to go big is to first figure out how to be small.
For the city of Doral, Fla., where Gladys Gonzalez is CIO, the solution proved to be hyperconvergence: an IT framework with the capacity to do it all.
It was 2015, and Doral had just launched its smart city initiative for municipal digital transformation, Gonzalez recalls. Focused on making sound technology investments that would enhance citizen services and government efficiencies, IT leaders started with the one thing they knew would be critical to success every step of the way.
“We looked at our infrastructure, and we asked ourselves what it had to do,” Gonzalez says.
The answer, of course, was all about data.
The City of Doral isn’t the only agency to upgrade its data center operations as part of an IT modernization effort. State and local organizations across the country are rethinking and shrinking their data centers in a world where data is king. Drivers for data center consolidation vary depending on the organization. In certain cases, such as Doral, consolidation promised to reduce energy use and “improve the environmental bottom line.”
But the primary benefit, beyond the potential space savings, is smaller IT teams, says Christian Perry, infrastructure senior research analyst with S&P Global Market Intelligence.
“When you consolidate, that smaller footprint means you have less infrastructure to manage,” Perry says. He’s constantly hearing from organizations that say they’re short on qualified IT professionals. “When you can’t find experienced people to work in your data centers, consolidation could be your answer. You put one IT generalist in that single spot, and they can take care of everything.”
Increased HCI adoption is one factor enabling this trend, Perry says, but it also has to do with technology advancements, such as higher-density racks and the “cloud-like evolution” of on-premises solutions. “It’s a lot easier now to deploy hybrid cloud,” Perry adds.
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