You’ll notice a clear theme to Information Age this month: the movement towards a software-defined data centre (SDDC).
This trend can be traced back to when VMware virtualised the x86 architecture, which led to businesses around the world enjoying the increased agility and lower costs of server virtualisation.
But compute is just one piece of the data centre puzzle. Now, we see vendors promoting software-defined storage (SDS) and networking (SDN) solutions that promise similar benefits by virtualising the components and wrapping them in highly automated software.
The SDDC, we’re told, will be a new age of IT infrastructure – one of simplification, flexibility and efficiency. But the road to adoption is filled with smoke as vendors shout conflicting definitions in an attempt to be seen as leaders.
Furthermore, with all IT delivered as a service, the SDDC will transform IT from a people-process side, an outlook that many find intimidating.
Fortunately, Information Age is on hand to clear the smoke and get to the bottom of this technology.
In this issue you will find an in-depth feature presenting a comprehensive view of the SDDC market and respective technologies.
This month’s cover star is not an astronaut, as the image may suggest, but Steve MacPherson, CTO of Framestore, the British VFX company behind visual masterpiece Gravity.
Framestore has become an early adopter of software-defined infrastructure in order to manage and access the petabytes of mission-critical data necessary to produce movie blockbusters that also include James Bond thrillers Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and Skyfall.
The case study is complemented by an in-depth feature clearing the smoke on the software-defined data centre, as well as interviews with the CIO of GE Capital International, Kevin Griffin, and Unisys CEO Ed Coleman.
Also in this issue:
- Does big data spell the death of SIEM?
- 5 ways CIOs can win at customer experience
- The OpenStack adoption struggle
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Can companies learn the lessons of public sector open data schemes?
