New Programs at Data Center World
Case Studies
Hear from real data center managers about how they overcame specific challenges, how they utilize best practices, what they are doing to successfully complete projects on time and on budget, and how they have helped keep their team motivated during a down economy.
CS01: Hey…Who Turned Off the Lights?
Joe Ng, IT Manager, Department of Information and Innovation, State of Vermont
With increasing demands on reducing costs and delivering more, the next step in the evolution of data center operations is worth considering. While we all like the benefits of streamlined operations and cost reductions, we are also concerned about the notion that no one will be in the data center. This session will examine the driving reasons for lights out. Topics also include addressing business needs, changing mind-sets, meeting the challenges, finding the solutions, managing business and technical resources and building a winning team.
CS02: Extreme Makeover, Data Center Edition: Achieve Server and Storage Efficiency
Vincent Biddlecombe, Chief Technology Officer, Transplace
Transplace is responsible for optimizing global logistics technology and transportation management services for many Fortune 1000 companies. In May 2007, Transplace reevaluated the efficiency of its IT organization to enhance its quality of service while still meeting customers' bottom lines. The session will be a how-to presentation on Transplace’s infrastructure overhaul and its build-out of two new data centers to increase storage and server efficiency and reduce costs through virtualization, deduplication and iSCSI technologies. Also discussed will be how VMware and NetApp efficiency technologies were implemented to help the company become more competitive through increased agility and efficiency by enhancing services and customer satisfaction. The company realized a 65 percent cost savings by giving its IT organization an extreme makeover.
CS03: The Criticality of Quality Management in an Operations Environment
Donna Manley, IT Senior Director, University of Pennsylvania
Quality management proves invaluable in an operations environment. Understand the role of quality as well as various techniques used in quality management that can be applied to your organization immediately at little or no cost. This presentation will draw on the case study of Penn's ISC computer operations area, which implemented quality management in preparation for attaining ISO certification.
CS04: Crisis of Capacity
Ralph Wescott, Data Center Services Manager, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Data centers provide a machine-friendly environment for important computing resources. Imagine what happens when that finite environment cannot keep pace with power demands, cooling requirements and space constraints imposed by ever increasing server growth. Learn how Pacific Northwest National Laboratory recognized the signs of impending failure, implemented measurements and processes to minimize the impact and planned an energy efficient path forward to a Tier I data center.
CS05: How to Eliminate Server Sprawl and Reduce Costs During an Economic Downturn
Scott McCullough, Manager of Technical Operations, Mine Safety Appliance
This presentation will provide advice on how to reduce costs and increase business efficiencies during a time of economic uncertainty. Learn how Mine Safety Appliances deployed a combination of server and storage virtualization solutions from Citrix, NetApp, and Sun to eliminate unnecessary and costly physical servers in its data center, increase application availability and performance, enable rapid provisioning, improve utilization, and reduce its overall management and hardware costs. McCullough will discuss future storage implementations to extend its data center cost savings and business efficiencies during a difficult economic climate.
CS06: How Leadership and Technical Expertise Came Together to Migrate a Mission Critical Data Center
Jack Schwab, IT Infrastructure Practice Leader, Point B
Projects to upgrade, expand, build or move data centers are undertaken every day and many of them fail due to lack of leadership or insufficient planning over how the project will be executed. Data center experts are needed to architect and implement solutions, but technical experts alone cannot pull it all together and deliver results. A seasoned leader can build a plan, unite a team, provide a proven project management structure, ask the tough questions, provide objective guidance, deliver tough messages and most of all deliver the project on time and on budget. Learn how leadership and technical expertise came together to migrate a mission critical data center to a new facility.
