Building an Efficient Modernisation Lifecycle
Every organisation deploys their own unique version of the modernisation lifecycle to fit and adapt to their needs. An efficient lifecycle in comprised of two core elements:
- Modernisation of the data centre and extension of capabilities to the cloud
- Accelerating cloud adoption and optimisating cloud platforms
Data Centre Modernisation
In this section we’ll delve into more detail about data centre modernisation.
For most organisations, data centres aren’t fully going away any time soon. Instead, they’re being transformed into private clouds with the capabilities extended to public cloud. We’ve developed a modernisation maturity model to help you identify and understand where your organisation fits today.
Data Centre Modernisation Maturity Model
The left side of the diagram is a more reactive state, with countless disparate hardware/software platforms and multiple panes of glass. This stage is largely inefficient with long provisioning times and lots of sprawl.
The right side of the diagram is the panacea of a cloud-enabled enterprise foundation characterised by the ability to move workloads transparently, automation across platforms, complete visibility, and consumption-based models regardless of where the workload sits.
In reality, most organisations live somewhere in the middle. Many are starting to consolidate and converge infrastructure stacks, become more software-defined, and layer in automation—all in an effort to drive towards increased efficiency.
Regardless of where you are on the modernisation maturity model today, this framework can be customised to provide a reference point of where you came from and where you aspire to be.
Next, let’s look at a modern data centre reference architecture. We’ll break it down to show the progression. At the core is your data centre infrastructure, which hosts your data and workloads. This starts to become your private cloud—by layering in automation and software-defined aspects and potentially starting to leverage subscription-based models and burst capacity on-premises to more closely resemble public cloud.
IGXGlobal Modern Data Centre Reference Architecture
Inevitably, you will begin to use the public cloud, such as AWS, Azure, GCP, and/or SaaS applications.
To truly create an enterprise hybrid cloud, you need the ability extend your workloads into the public cloud, which is enabled by the extension of network and security services, automation, and data services.
As you can see, the modernisation of the data centre does not just turn your infrastructure into a private cloud, but it creates a two-lane road between your data centre(s) and cloud platform(s). This helps to accelerate cloud adoption and helps free you from cloud lock-in.
