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Oracle Next Generation Data Centre Index
Contents
3 Executive Summary
4 Key Findings from Oracle NGD Index
5 Technology Trends
• Inefficient server utilisation; lack of virtualisation and consolidation
• Paying lip service to sustainability
• Insufficient systems management in place
10 Country Trends
13 Industry Trends
Executive Summary
With the huge growth in our reliance upon digital information, organisations are dealing with more data than ever before. While organisations are turning to technology to cope with these increasing volumes, they are struggling to make the necessary investments to ensure that their data centres and infrastructure are as efficient as possible, delivering the best value and results. In order to quantify this, Oracle has measured the journey of organisations as they move towards creating efficient data centres and evolving their IT infrastructure to boost performance and reduce costs. The research looks at attitudes towards and the adoption of technologies across Europe, the Middle East and the USA, and some interesting trends have emerged as businesses face pressure to meet industry demands and respond to change.
The Oracle Next Generation Data Centre (NGD) Index reveals that progress and attitudes across Europe are varied with a handful of countries scoring above and below the overall average of 5.28, on a scale of 0 to 10, where 10 would indicate the most sophisticated data centre strategy. This trend is also reflected in the sub-indices which map organisations’ performance in achieving data centre flexibility, sustainability and supportability. Again, performance is mixed; while there are clear leaders, innovators and evidence of an understanding of technology benefits, overall organisations are still missing tricks and failing to maximise the business value of their IT.
The consolidation and virtualisation of IT infrastructures are not new concepts and the benefits have been well documented and discussed over the years. But despite this, there have been surprisingly low levels of adoption and investment. Nearly a quarter of Europe’s organisations have still made no progress towards consolidation and are hampered by complex, disparate IT systems which are expensive to manage.
While consolidation has not been a priority for many, Oracle believes that its potential is clear and Europe’s early adopters will reap long-term business benefits.
It is also surprising to see that virtualisation is still in its early stages; Europe is not as advanced as the USA and many organisations are still failing to realise the benefits. The lack of virtualisation is impacting the flexibility and efficiency of the data centre, and it comes as no great shock that Europe also lags behind the USA in the Flexibility Index.
The research shows that server utilisation levels in Europe remain low at a median average of around 30 percent, suggesting that organisations are wasting money on extra server hardware instead of tapping into unused capacity to overcome problems. Oracle believes that if Europe could increase its server utilisation to an average of 50 percent, organisations could save approximately €112 million per year in energy costs alone with overall savings of around €0.5 billion.1 (Oracle itself saved more than USD$1 billion by undertaking a data centre consolidation project) While there are also cost savings to be made in areas such as sustainability, there seems to be more talk than substance with many organisations failing to make any real investments, make systems run better and significantly reduce energy use.
A greater understanding is needed across the board of the steps needed to drive efficiency and performance of data centres, and the potential impact of this on the business. Clearly, there is still much work to be done if Europe’s leaders are to continue to make progress and if the underachievers are to close the gap to the leading pack.
There is huge opportunity for organisations to step up their commitment to transforming their data centres, and evidence shows that companies who embrace the technologies and adopt a best-practice approach will increase efficiencies and performance, enabling them to prosper and compete on a global stage.
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1 )Assumptions: 45 million servers worldwide (source: IEEE), 20% in Europe = 9m. 20% are service provider facilities so around 7m servers in Europe in private data centres. CPU power rating of between 90-150W (source: Intel) + support power = 200W per server. Average data centre runs at 2.4PUE (IEEE) = average total server power usage of 480W. Total power usage = 7m server x 480W = 3.36TWh. Average energy cost in Europe is 10 Euro-cents per KWh. Total energy to power Europe’s servers = €336m. Research states server utilisation of 30%. To increase to 50% is an increase of 66% on original figure so one third of servers can be removed through consolidation. 1/3 * €336m = saving of €112m per year.
80% servers run a commercial operating system (OS) = 5.6m. Average cost per OS is €200 = €1.2b overall OS cost. Cost of contract maintenance = 10% = €120m ongoing costs. Consolidation of 30% of servers = saving of €400m OS costs and €40m maintenance charges.
The Oracle NGD Index is based on independent market research conducted by Quocirca across Europe, the Middle East and the USA. On average, businesses scored 5.28 on a scale from 0 to 10, with 10 indicating the most sophisticated data centre strategy. Overall, very large companies show better Index figures (5.63 compared to 4.92 for large companies). Organisations were large (>$100Million revenue) or very large (>$1Billion).
The results reveal that countries and industries are split into two groups: “Gurus”, scoring well against the average in every one of the three sub-indices; and “Laggards”, scoring consistently below average across the board.
DCH (Germany and Switzerland) and the Nordics are Gurus and DCH led the overall NGD Index on 6.09, followed by Nordics (5.95), USA (5.79), Benelux (5.64) and UK (5.43).
On the other end of the spectrum, France (4.91), Iberia (4.73), Italy (4.50) and the Middle East (4.41) are lagging behind the average of 5.28.
Methodology Quocirca carried out 919 telephone-based interviews through February and March 2011 across nine different geographies – UK, USA, France, Italy, DCH (Germany/Switzerland), Iberia (Spain/Portugal), Benelux (Belgium/Netherlands), Middle East (Saudi Arabia/UAE) and the Nordics (Denmark/Finland/Norway/Sweden).
Questions were crafted in such a way that answers could be expressed as a number between 0 and 10 – the average of all the numbers is the overall Oracle NGD Index. To build a picture of how far organisations have come in developing their IT infrastructures and creating efficient data centres, organisations were questioned on several areas such as their need for new data centres, the level of systems management they have in place, how much virtualisation is in their run time environment and what they have done around consolidation.
The questions were split into three topic areas – Flexibility, Sustainability, Supportability – giving sub-indices which show Index numbers for each topic.
In the sub-indices the organisations on average scored 5.34 in the Flexibility Index, 5.15 in the Sustainability Index and 5.32 in the Supportability Index. The Sustainability Index has the lowest score and reveals organisations see sustainability as less of a priority, with lower levels of investment and recognition of the business benefits.
Key Findings from Oracle NGD Index
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Overall country averages
All sub and main indices
Inefficient server utilisation and lack of virtualisation and consolidation drive big demand for new data centres
As businesses struggle to keep pace with industry and customer requirements, systems and IT infrastructures must also evolve. Organisations are recognising the need for new data centres that can cope with demands and have the flexibility to grow with their business, yet it is still only the minority that are making long-term plans to replace facilities.
The research shows that over 50 percent of respondents would need a new data centre within two years. In fact, approximately 1 in 14 (7 percent) already need a new data centre but despite this, only 20 percent of respondents have plans for rolling replacements of data centre facilities.
There is a strong demand for new data centres but there is also evidence that server utilisation levels are low and companies are not making the most of what they have. This suggests that organisations are wasting money on extra server hardware and thinking of investing in new data centres, instead of sharing unused capacity and finding ways to make their data centres more efficient.
Findings:• 12 percent of respondents do not know what the average
server workload utilisation is across their data centre• 10 percent have utilisation levels of less than 10 percent • 58 percent state that their average utilisation is over 20
percent (34 percent use 21-50 percent; 24 percent use over 51 percent)
Organisations are trying to increase the capacity and flexibility of their data centres to meet business needs. But instead of investing in new data centres, they could first look at undertaking consolidation and virtualisation projects. These will help them to drive efficiencies and manage their existing infrastructure and data centre requirements.
The research reveals that nearly a quarter of organisations have failed to take any steps towards consolidation and virtualisation is still in its early stages. There is still a lot of work to be done before organisations show any real progress towards undertaking two of the most crucial stages of creating an efficient data centre. The majority of organisations are still running inefficient platforms and missing opportunities to reduce costs, energy usage and space requirements of their data centres.
Findings:• Almost a quarter of those surveyed (23 percent) have less
than 10 percent of their runtime estate virtualised • Only 15 percent have more than 70 percent virtualised• Nearly a quarter (22 percent) of respondents have done
nothing around consolidation• Only 11 percent have carried out rationalisation,
virtualisation and workload consolidation as a planned exercise
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Technology Trends
How far off is the need for a new data centre?
What is the average server workload utilisation level?
We will not need to build a new data centre in the foreseeable future
We would need to build a new data centre in the next 5 years
We would need to build a new data centre in the next 2 years
We really need to build a new data centre within the next 12 months
We are already at the point where a new data point is required
Don’t know
51%
21% - 50%
11% - 20%
5% - 10%
5%
Don’t know
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Sogesma, Belgium
With a presence in Belgium, France and Luxemburg, Sogesma manages 73 stores and offers a selection of more than 20,000 products, ranging from household goods and textiles to low-priced consumer products.
Challenges • Modernise the existing hardware
infrastructure with new servers and an extra storage area network solution
• Reduce server response times to increase overall productivity
• Create a hardware environment that is capable of handling high data volumes and for a retail company with a database of more than 200,000 active stock keeping units
The Oracle perspecTive:
Data and information in the world we live in are growing at an unimaginable rate. Organisations’ existing IT infrastructures are creaking under the strain of having to process more data than ever before. It is therefore surprising to see how little progress has been made in consolidating and virtualising technology environments to create data centres which can cope with these industry demands.
While organisations may believe that new data centre facilities are the best solution, providing the chance to boost computing power and overcome physical limitations, they first need to look closer to home and consider factors such as server utilisation levels. A picture has emerged revealing that server utilisation has declined over the last eight years; Oracle research in 2003 showed that organisations were using on average 60 percent of server capacity. This trend is in line with the fact that virtualisation is still creeping in and clearly, these low server utilisation rates are preventing organisations from getting business value from IT.
Increasing server utilisation will not only be able to save €0.5 billion per year, but will also optimise performance and streamline infrastructure. This will enable organisations to take full advantage of the full capabilities of their existing IT and get the maximum business value from those investments.
Consolidation and virtualisation also play a crucial role in enabling organisations to achieve this. By virtualising servers and storage assets, organisations will be able to increase the utilisation of their entire infrastructure and reduce the volume of redundant systems.
Consolidation can be seen as the first step to creating a data centre which delivers operational efficiency. Reducing the number of IT silos and consolidating servers can offer more computing power in less space. Reducing floor space can help reduce basic facility costs as well as decrease duplication of data centre personnel and responsibilities. Clearly, consolidating data centres and operations can result in huge costs savings.
Virtualisation is another essential stage of transforming a data centre. The virtualisation of servers and storage assets enables organisations to increase the utilisation of their IT systems. It also simplifies management as the skills required by staff to maintain data centre operations become more generic, so less time and resource are required which will free up staff to focus on more strategic tasks.
Consolidation and virtualisation of IT resources has a tremendous impact on the overall cost of IT infrastructure – basically organisations will get more for less and will be able transform their data centre into one which enables the business not only to react to demand, but also to forecast, plan and boost performance on a daily basis.
Technology such as OracleVM, Oracle Exadata and Oracle’s x86 and SPARC Servers is already available to help organisations with the consolidation programmes which are an essential part of reshaping data centre facilities to improve IT’s support for the business.
Key benefits• Replaced the hardware infrastructure with
Oracle Sun server and storage solutions that enable Sogesma to virtualise a large part of its hardware environment
• Reduced server response times from more than two seconds to 0.4 seconds, improving the speed of all enterprise resource planning transactions
• Delivered a hardware environment that is highly flexible and scalable and supports data volume growth
• Enabled the creation of virtualised operating system environments, allowing one or more applications to run in isolation from other activity on the system to simplify maintenance
“We wanted to halve our response times, but Oracle’s Sun SPARC server enabled us to improve them beyond our initial expectations.”
Vincent Chenut, Information Technology Manager, Sogesma
Paying lip service to sustainability There is an alarming lack of awareness among organisations of energy usage within the data centre. The basic task of monitoring energy usage is being overlooked, which suggests that there is a lack of understanding of the potential impact this can have on the business and the benefits of taking action accordingly. Findings:
• 8 percent of respondents “don’t know” if they have visibility of the data centre’s energy usage
• 44 percent do not see it, while more than 10 percent doubt that anyone else sees it
• Only 11 percent actively monitor the data centre’s usage to fully understand how energy is being used
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How much virtualisation is there in your run time environment?
Do you know the energy usage of your data centre environment?
Organisations’ poor visibility of energy usage in the data centre suggests that sustainability is not being taken seriously. This is further supported by findings which show that while the majority of organisations are drawing up statements and showing a basic commitment to sustainability, there is more talk than substance as a large number have no formal plans to actually support sustainability.
Findings:• 84 percent have a sustainability statement • Nearly half (44 percent) of respondents have a sustainability
statement but no plans to support it • 13 percent have no plan in place at all
70% of the server hardware is virtualised
50-69% of the server hardware is virtualised
30-49% of the server hardware is virtualised
10-29% of the server hardware is virtualised
10% of our server hardware is virtualised
Don’t know
I use energy metering within the data centre environment at a granular level to fully understand how energy is being used
I receive a copy of the organisation’s energy bill with the data centre usage calculated or split out separately
I use “plate values” for IT equipment to calculate a nominal energy basis for the data centre environment
No - it is someone else’s responsibility
No - and iI doubt anyone else does
Don’t know
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The Oracle perspecTive:
Energy monitoring is a core part of the management process in a data centre. While we have seen evidence that systems management is not a strong area for many organisations, it seems they are also missing opportunities to make their data centres more energy efficient and to reduce waste and costs. By failing to take a basic but vital step of monitoring energy usage, it is impossible to measure progress and any targets become meaningless.
Clearly, organisations should be doing more in this area and they need to recognise the fact that sustainability has a direct link to the bottom line. Despite the fact that the majority of organisations have a sustainability statement, there is little follow through and sustainability is not a priority on the business agenda. This may be owing to financial pressures and lack of understanding of the scale of its potential and impact on the business.
Energy monitoring will not only show energy usage levels but it will also identify any anomalies, for example where a piece of equipment suddenly starts to draw more power, indicating a fault or power failure.
Putting the systems in place to monitor energy usage will have clear benefits in the long run, enabling organisations to reduce carbon emissions and save energy, while also meeting regulations and corporate social responsibility goals.
Sustainability should not be seen as a cost to be avoided. Energy hungry, wasteful IT is a drain on resource and finances. Stripping the waste and inefficiency will make systems run better. Investing in sustainability initiatives will reduce waste, improve efficiency and ultimately save businesses money. These benefits cannot be overlooked and to remain competitive, organisations should be investing in sustainability practices and committing to plans. This will enable them to make savings and see swift payback and results.
myToys.de – Germany
The Berlin based retailer, myToys.de, sells merchandise for children. Since it was founded in 1999, the company has nearly doubled its revenue, distributing goods online, in stores, and through a mail-order catalogue.
Challenge• Expand computational resources to meet increasing customer demand• Increase system security, reliability and uptime• Receive top-quality, responsive support from IT vendor
Key benefits • Upgraded to Oracle Sun severs and a consolidation project increased
traffic-handling capability• Improved reliability and uptime• Delivered a fast 24/7 response time and strengthened security
“Our Oracle Sun servers are extremely reliable, guaranteeing that our online store can continue its exponential growth without any problems. Our demands for performance, redundancy and minimal downtime have grown along with our business. When problems occur, the response time is fast and if we need additional hardware on an ad hoc basis, there aren’t any problems. The collaboration is extremely professional. It really couldn’t get any better.”
Olaf Brehmer, Head of System Administration, myToys.de
Insufficient systems management in place It is surprising to see how many organisations have little in the way of systems management in place. The research reveals that they are taking a piecemeal approach that does not look at the bigger picture and in most cases is more reactive than strategic.
Findings:
• A fifth (20 percent) of respondents have very little formal mechanism of systems management in place
• 20 percent manage on a per application basis• Nearly a quarter (24 percent) manage on a per operating
system basis• Only 10 percent use a single vendor with best of breed
to cover specific areas
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The Oracle perspecTive:
Systems management can be seen as the lynch pin when it comes to the data centre. Those with good systems management perform better across the board than those with no systems management in place at all.
Organisations need agile infrastructures which can respond to evolving demands of the business and support future growth. Those who do not invest in management tools will add to complexities when they seek to move to new technologies or expand their IT infrastructure. This may also explain why consolidation and virtualisation are still in their early stages – organisations are setting themselves up for an even bigger challenge to streamline their IT.
Implementing adequate systems management before embracing new technology will provide greater understanding and control of existing technology assets. Only then will organisations be in the best position to plan and implement new technologies successfully and reap the full benefits of consolidation and virtualisation.
For example, Oracle Enterprise Manager 11g can be shown to help IT organisations achieve an ROI of 149 percent for their IT management investments while also helping them to reduce customer-reported IT issues by as much as 90 percent, or to reduce hardware management costs by up to 90 percent using Oracle Enterprise Manager Ops Center. The benefits that Oracle technology can offer – streamline operations, reduce costs, speed service delivery – are a key part of enabling businesses to increase the value of their IT to the business.
BMC Software
A leader in Business Process Management with approximately 15,000 customers worldwide, BMC manages highly complex, heterogeneous and decentralised IT environments for companies around the world.
Challenges• Reduce carbon footprint and energy
consumption across the organisation • Manage overall data centre costs while
optimising system performance and efficiency • Create a unified IT platform with massive
scalability and no-cost virtualisation Key benefits • Implemented Oracle’s SPARC Enterprise
T-series servers with Oracle Solaris in its data centres and research and development (R&D) department to reduce costs
• Virtualisation technology maximised data centre floor space and has driven down power and cooling costs
• New servers consume one eighth the power and emit one eighth the CO2 of previous servers
“Oracle’s SPARC Enterprise T-Series servers support our R&D efforts with a virtualised, high density environment that enables us to quickly respond to requests for new resources and keep costs down. The powerful combination of Oracle hardware and software not only enables us to reach our aggressive energy reduction goals, but it also will allow us to expand our core centre of innovation - our R&D department.”
Steve Carl, Senior Technologist, BMC Software
Europe’s Gurus; DCH and the Nordics
In terms of overall performance and progress, the DCH region – consisting of Germany and Switzerland – and the Nordics are leading the rest of the world and have the greatest flexibility and management capabilities across their data centres.
DCH and the Nordics come top in both the Sustainability and Supportability Indices. DCH leads the Supportability Index on 6.14, followed by the Nordics (6.09), USA (6.00), Benelux (5.74) and the UK (5.58).
Middle East, Iberia and Italy chase the rest of the world The Middle East scores low across the board and is last in the overall NGD Index, as well as in all three other Indices – Flexibility; Sustainability; Supportability.
Italy and Iberia are also in the bottom three of the overall NGD Index and lag behind other countries in most areas.
DCH is number one for systems management While there is an overall lack of systems management across the board and there is still much work to be done, DCH has the highest level of systems management capability with a score of 117 percent of the overall average. This is followed by the USA (115 percent), the UK (108 percent), Benelux (107 percent) and the Nordics (102 percent) – all scoring above the average.
Italy (85 percent) and Iberia (90 percent) are in the bottom three, along with the Middle East on 79 percent
Consistent leadership from the Nordics
The Nordics has highly consistent results and is in a strong position to benefit from well managed and maintained data centres. The Nordics has the fewest worries about replacing data centres, leading the other countries with a score of 117 percent, 17 percent above the average. Italy is in last place on 89 percent.
The region comes top in being able to provide more resource to a workload better than any other country and it also has the most homogeneous platforms.
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Country Trends
Data centre supportability by country
How far off is the need for a new data centre?
Data centre sustainability by country
DCH
Nordics
USA
Benelux
UK
Overall Average
France
Iberia
Italy
Middle East
DCH
Nordics
Benelux
USA
Overall Average
UK
France
Iberia
Italy
Middle East
Nordics
Middle East
UK
Overall Average
USA
Benelux
DCH
France
Iberia
Italy
In instances where figures shown are above 100%, the average result has been given the value of 100%, with all other figures ranked against this.
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USA leads the world in virtualisation and data centre flexibility
The USA is a clear leader in virtualisation with a high score of 128 percent.
Europe is chasing the USA – led by DCH on 117 percent, followed by the Nordics (114 percent) and the UK (113 percent).
The Middle East has a lot of catching up to do, trailing in last place on 66 percent. Italy (81 percent) and France (84 percent) are also in the bottom three, reflecting their need for new data centres.
The USA is top in the Flexibility Index, followed by the Nordics and DCH. Other countries can learn from the USA which overall is in a strong position with well architected and effectively-managed data centres.
Consolidation pays off
The USA and DCH region have done the most around consolidation. The Middle East, Italy and France have done the least – and this correlates with the stated need for new data centre facilities.
The Middle East is bottom on 72 percent, followed by Italy (78 percent) and France (83 percent). There is a strong correlation between the amount of consolidation and the impact it has on the data centre. Countries that have done the most consolidation can enjoy the benefits and see the greatest impact, while those that have done little in terms of consolidation will see poor results.
In relation to the impact of consolidation on the data centre, DCH comes top (124 percent) followed by the USA (111 percent). The Middle East and Italy remain in the bottom two on 75 percent and 82 percent respectively.
Sustainability needs more substance
Uncharacteristically, the USA performs poorly in sustainability with suggestions of green-washing and talk of plans for sustainability supported by little capability and substantial commitment. Looking at the percentage of organisations with a formal sustainability plan in place, the USA is below the average and only in 6th place on 97 percent, just ahead of Iberia on 82 percent.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Nordics (128 percent) and DCH (124 percent) are in first and second place respectively, while there is a big gap between these leaders and the Middle East in last place on 72 percent. Italy is second last on 76 percent.
Data centre flexibility by country
Has consolidation had any impact on the overall data centre?
Does your organisation have a formal sustainability plan?
USA
Nordics
DCH
UK
Benelux
Overall Average
Iberia
France
Italy
Middle East
DCH
USA
Nordics
UK
Benelux
Overall Average
France
Iberia
Italy
Middle East
Nordics
DCH
Benelux
UK
Overall Average
France
USA
Iberia
Italy
Middle East
The Oracle perspecTive:
Looking at individual country performances, there is a clear gap between the gurus and laggards but no great surprises from some of the leading countries. DCH is the most advanced when it comes to the level of systems management in place and this is in line with expectations. For example, Germany has traditionally shown solid progress in investing in technologies and laying the right foundations, with a reputation for being very process driven.
The USA is top of the leader board when it comes to virtualisation. Again, this is not surprising as many of the world’s largest companies are headquartered in the USA, reflecting the fact that it is home to the largest data centres, with therefore an even stronger demand for flexible and streamlined infrastructures that optimise performance.
In the sustainability stakes, as some may have predicted, the Nordics and DCH are the most advanced. It is interesting to note that the countries who are trailing behind in this area are also those with the hottest climates. Countries in the Nordics are likely to find it easier to keep their data centres cooler than organisations in hotter countries such as the Middle East, where there will be a greater need for technologies such as natural and evaporative cooling systems.
This should also place even more incentive on the laggards like the Middle East and Iberia to invest in consolidating their IT infrastructures. For example, reducing an organisation’s number of servers will mean less cooling equipment is required and this in turn can help to reduce energy usage and manage costs.
The Middle East has its work cut out if it is to catch the leaders. However, this is not too surprising when we look at the economic boom and volume of business start ups in countries like Dubai over the last few years.
Many organisations are burdened with complex, inefficient infrastructures which are hindering the performance of their data centres. For the laggards and under-achieving countries, a greater understanding is needed of the benefits of consolidation and virtualisation projects, and how investing now will pay off in the long term and enable them to drive efficiencies and reduce costs.
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Telco, Utilities and Financial Services lead the sectors There are clear leaders amongst the industries: Telco comes out top consistently in terms of overall performance, management and IT capabilities, with Utilities and Financial Services (FS) also ranking in the top three.
In the overall NGD Index, Telco leads on 6.55, followed by Utilities (5.91) and FS (5.80). The other sectors fall below the average score with Retail in last place on 4.43. Telco is also first in the Flexibility, Sustainable and Supportability Indices.
Much work is needed across all areas by the Public Sector and Retail and they consistently lag behind the other industries. They are last in the overall NGD Index and fall behind in the other Indices.
Industry Trends
Overall industry averages
Sub and main by vertical
Turkcell – Turkey
A leading mobile communications provider in Turkey with more than 34 million subscribers. Established in 1994, Turkcell created the first GSM network in Turkey and was the first Turkish company to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Challenges• Manage 250 terabytes of data in a data
warehouse which includes more than 500 Oracle Databases
• Analysis of up to 1.5 billion call data records generated by customers daily
• Accelerate the development of 3,000 reports of critical business data with 50,000 monthly report runs
Key benefits• Used Oracle Exadata Database Machine
to reduce the size of Turkcell’s data warehouse
• Reduced the average time for producing a report from 27 minutes to just three minutes – doubling reporting speed
• Ensured scalability and business continuity in the telecommunications sector where data volumes double annually
“It was a never-ending race to match the company’s requirements for business performance and capacity. With Oracle Exadata Database Machine, we’ve outperformed expectations and have prepared Turkcell for future growth.”
Ferhat Şengönül, Data Warehouse Specialist, Turkcell İletişim Hizmetleri A.Ş
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Telco
Utilities
Other
Financial Services
Overall Average
Healthcare
Media
Public Sector
Retail
Telco
Utilities
Other
Financial Services
Overall Average
Healthcare
Media
Public Sector
Retail
Average of Index average
Average of Data centre supportability
Average of Data centre sustainability
Average of Data centre flexibiltiy
The road to consolidation and virtualisation Telco, FS and Utilities have made the most progress around consolidation and virtualisation, reflecting the need for these sectors to have a flexible IT platform to underpin core business capabilities. Telco’s leadership suggests that it sees the greatest benefits and moving from physical to virtual systems has enabled Telcos to keep pace with their IT requirements while managing costs.
When it comes to consolidation, Public Sector, Retail and Healthcare have done the least. The drive to “shared services” and government clouds has not had an impact on the Public Sector’s progress – and is unlikely to be seen as a major aspect going forward. Retail could benefit greatly from consolidation, but is making little progress.
Looking at the impact of consolidation on overall data centres, Telco leads (120 percent), followed by Healthcare (104 percent), FS (102 percent) and Utilities (101 percent). This is a surprisingly good result for Healthcare which generally shows relatively poor scores across the board.
Systems management driven by industry regulations and real demand Telco, Utilities and FS continue to outperform the other sectors and have made the most progress when it comes to systems management. Technology is a core component of these sectors and industry pressures, government regulations and customer requirements make it crucial for them to have the IT systems in place to manage their environment effectively.
Public Sector is last, with Retail and Media just ahead. This suggests that time, money and resource are being wasted through systems being managed inefficiently, with personnel required to intervene at a manual level to identify, track down and rectify issues that could be done automatically.
How much virtualisation is there in your run time environment?
Has consolidation had any impact on the overall data centre?
What level of systems management do you have in place?
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Telco
Healthcare
Financial Services
Utilities
Other
Overall Average
Media
Retail
Public Sector
Telco
Utilities
Financial Services
Other
Overall Average
Healthcare
Media
Retail
Public Sector
Telco
Other
Financial Services
Utilities
Overall Average
Healthcare
Media
Public Sector
Retail
Utilities lead sustainability charge
Utilities are at the forefront of sustainability, faced with regulatory pressures to reduce emissions and manage energy usage to reduce costs.
Telco still performs well, while Media and Retail are at the bottom along with FS. It seems that FS is paying more lip-service to sustainability than the other industries.
Public Sector performs better here, finishing ahead of the bottom three – driven more by central demands than by any acceptance of the need for sustainability.
Summary
The first Oracle Next Generation Data Centre Index has revealed some surprising insights. While there has been evidence of remarkable progress on the journey towards creating efficient data centres, the overall picture is that organisations have not come as far as expected. With low levels of consolidation and virtualisation of IT environments, opportunities are being missed and in some areas, such as server utilisation, there has even been a backwards step. By taking full advantage of technologies available, businesses can overcome existing data centre frustrations, while also making huge cost savings by increasing sever utilisation and streamlining IT. Managed effectively, a data centre has the potential to change the way businesses operate, offering greater simplicity, scalability and ultimately improving performance. Oracle can give valuable insight and support to organisations who are looking to transform their data centre and return business value from their IT. It is time for businesses to wake up and recognise that with the right strategy and commitment, they can create an agile, intelligent data centre to reduce costs and ultimately remain competitive.
Does your organisation have a formal sustainability plan?
The Oracle perspecTive:
Telco, Utilities and FS are the industry leaders across board. It seems that their IT infrastructures are the most advanced owing to requirements and drivers which are specific to their sectors. For example, it is not surprising to see that Utilities has made the most progress in sustainability. The utility industry has found itself in the spotlight recently with pressure to become greener and for utilities to curb energy usage. The European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) calls for a reduction of carbon emissions by 20 percent by 2020, while large emitters of carbon must also monitor and annually report their CO2 emissions.
In addition to these regulations and environmental concerns, Utilities are being driven by customer demands to put in place Smart Grid technology. With Smart Grid and Smart Metering, utilities will be in a better place to service customers, cope with growing data volumes and also make energy distribution more efficient, reducing its impact on the environment. Because of the move towards these technologies, Utilities are already on their way to building more efficient data centres and prioritising energy reduction.
FS and Telco organisations also face pressure to comply with regulations while handling large customer databases and sensitive information. These industries are leading the way in the Indices because it is essential for these industries to have IT systems in place that are secure, robust and agile, and are able to meet changing requirements.
To remain competitive, the onus is on organisations across all industries to create efficient data centres that reduce costs, deliver results and enable them to keep pace with industry and customer demands.
15
Utilities
Other
Telco
Overall Average
Healthcare
Public Sector
Financial Services
Retail
Media
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