the impending data center talent crisis and how to avert it

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THE IMPENDING DATA

CENTER TALENT CRISIS

AND HOW TO AVERT IT


The Impending Data Center Talent

Crisis and How to Avert it

HIGHLIGHTS

We examine in detail the reasons for the talent

shortage, and list our recommendations to

bridge the gap at various levels — in the areas

of skills development, skills sourcing and for

new locations of data centers

The increasing reliance by businesses on

IT infrastructure, especially on data centers,

highlights a new worrisome trend — the

lack of suitably qualified staff to

run and maintain these facilities


The Changing Data Center*

As data volumes grow, there is increasing pressure on the data center (DC) to keep up with demand

while reflecting the changes in the technological landscape

IT CHARGE BACK ON

CONSUMPTION

INCREASED

COLLABORATION VIRTUAL OFFICE

APPS STORE MOVING

INSIDE FIREWALL

VIRTUALIZATION WILL

GO UP TO 95%

INTEGRATED

APPLIANCES

*IT infrastructure trends

Increased adoption

of open source

Context aware

computing

Mobile devices play

a dominating role

Geographical shift

of data centers

Move to Cloud

computing

Configuration and

standards


Insufficient training and

certifications at the data center

level

Few employability options post-

college

Lack of academic focus

Too few foundation programs

covering data center as a topic

The Skills Shortage: Gap Analysis

Lack of a structured career track at architect

level

Skill Categories in a

data center:

• Engineer

• Architect

• Text Support

• Management

>60%

Over the next few years, increasing standardization and automation will reduce the need for low-end L0 and L1

profiles by around 30%; at the same time, the requirement for high-end profiles will grow due to the increasing

complexity of the data center

The modern data center — a highly automated, dense and virtualized IT infrastructure — demands that IT

professionals understand multiple disciplines as well as the facilities infrastructure

-of operators have huge concerns

about the lack of suitably qualified

staff to maintain their facilities;

according to the Datacenter

Dynamics Industry Census for 2012


Recommendations

(1) In the area of skills development:

At the in-house IT organization level: The IT organization should focus

primarily on developing strong data center architecture and enterprise data

architecture skills among its employees

At the data center service provider level: The main focus should be to

develop strong support skills in the server, storage, network and database

areas. Architect skills in the area of storage and network are also needed

At the DC products/tools provider level: Should invest in advanced

training/certification programs for its employees in the products and tools

related to new technologies

At the academic/educational level: Institutions should introduce new courses

covering relevant topics such as DCIM, virtualization etc in their curriculum

(1) SKILLS DEVELOPMENT (2) SKILLS SOURCING (3) NEW DATA CENTER

LOCATION


Recommendations

(2) In the area of skills sourcing:

At the in-house level: Organizations should utilize competent service

providers especially in technical areas like server, network, storage,

database and operations.

At the data center service provider level: Data center competency-

build programs at the foundation level must be devised so that the

sourcing function can take in fresh college graduates and train them in

data center skills

(3) For a new data center location:

Cost of real estate

Power tariff rate

Geographical stability

Political stability

Availability of skill set in that geography


Conclusion

The ominous skill gap in the industry can be addressed through the

concentrated efforts of all the players in the data center ecosystem, such as

the organizations, the service providers and academia. Data center-specific

courses and training programs can fill a knowledge gap and help ensure a

well-qualified team with the skills necessary to run an increasingly mission-

critical facility like the data center


For more details please visit the link below:

http://www.wipro.com/Documents/the-impending-data-center-

talent-crisis-and-how-to-avert-it.pdf

http://www.wipro.com/Documents/the-impending-data-center-talent-crisis-and-how-to-avert-it.pdf























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