Poorly equipped data centres for cloud computing and virtualisation have experienced multiple network outages that have led to losses in revenue and broken contracts, according to new research.
A survey of 1,750 IT decision-makers in Europe and America conducted by networking solutions provider Brocade suggested that many data centres’ systems were less productive after relying on outdated data centre technology.
About 91% of respondents said that their IT systems still needed upgrades to meet the changing requirements of virtualisation and cloud, while a third said their systems had experienced multiple network failures every week.
Another 61% of data centre workers admitted that their corporate networks weren’t fit for purpose, with 41% saying that network downtime had even led to a loss in revenue and breached SLAs.
Jason Nolet, VP of data centre switching and routing at Brocade, said: "Many data centers that exist today are based on 20-year old technologies, and the simple fact is that they can no longer keep up with demand,
"Virtualisation and cloud models require greater network agility and performance, as well as reduced operational cost and complexity," he added.
The research also found that 18% were already using fabric-based networks, while 51% said they were planning to use ethernet fabrics in the next year for virtualisation plans.
An increasing number of businesses said they would deploy Software-Defined Networks (SDN) by 2015 to increase productivity, with more than two-thirds saying that they would welcome an on-demand data centre topology – infrastructure that combines both physical and virtual networking elements to deliver high-value applications faster.
"The findings clearly show that despite apparent investment in the past few years, most organizations are still ill-equipped for current business demands," added Nolet.
"The Brocade vision for The On-Demand Data Center enables our customers to simplify and automate their networks, as well as dramatically improve network efficiency, utilisation and performance."
