Data center modernization and consolidation involves customizing data center strategies according to business plans, regulatory requirements, skills availability and rapidly changing technologies.

Enterprises need to control costs while staying competitive, and data center modernization and consolidation projects offer the opportunity to do both. Gartner research provides invaluable advice about how to plan and implement a modernization and consolidation project, whether it involves building and populating a new data center, modernizing an existing one, or conducting a server consolidation project within an existing data center. We address such issues as spatial constraints, legacy technologies, legal requirements for storage and rising energy costs. Clients that follow our advice typically save more than 10% of their annual operational costs. We also help clients with procurement, contract review and discount evaluation, activities that also result in cost savings.

Enterprises planning to embark on data center consolidation and/or modernization projects should consider these typical hurdles and discern those that may present significant challenges. These include:

• Assess infrastructure before starting any modernization project.
• Encourage a top-down focus of relationships among IT infrastructure, operations, application development and business units. Address internal political issues that can derail plans.
• Determine where savings in server, storage and network infrastructure are achievable.
• Decide best metrics and software tools for measuring data center energy efficiency.
• Determine the number and location of data centers, and whether they should be stand-alone, colocated or outsourced. Learn how to consolidate infrastructure and operations within a data center or set of data centers.
• Examine how a data center consolidation and modernization project will affect IT platforms and systems. Consider how to handle legacy infrastructures.

Gartner recommends that IT leaders implement these major phases in their data center modernization and consolidation projects (these phases may vary, depending on your organization and the extent of the deployment):

• Strategize and Plan: Determine achievable cost savings and energy efficiency. Consider aspects such as the effects of the project on other parts of the IT infrastructure. Present a business case based on these metrics and return on investment.
• Architect Solution: Include the necessary number of data centers, their locations and configurations. Decide whether they should be colocated or outsourced. Incorporate changes in business continuity plans. Develop an overall cloud-computing strategy for your organization.
• Select Solution: Use Gartner research to help you select and implement technologies, products and services to gain energy efficiency, increase agility and enhance availability. Differentiate between "real" green IT projects and industry hype.
• Build: Meet immediate needs, rather than building for long-term growth. Focus on design efficiency and an incremental build-out methodology. Factor in density zones and multitiered designs. Integrate legacy hardware with new innovations. Strive for optimal costs.
• Operate and Evolve: Monitor energy and operational efficiency. Make changes according to industry requirements and enterprise needs. Establish processes for ongoing server consolidation and disciplines for implementation of virtual servers to prevent virtual server sprawl.

The following documents are foundational research to get started with this initiative:

"Cost Optimization: Cut Costs By Building Agile Data Centers"

"Consider Key Trends When Planning Data Center Strategies and Architectures"

"The Politics of Consolidation"