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Transforming the Datacenter

Looking at datacenter developments and how they impact next-generation technologies and services including cloud computing, virtualization, software-defined networking, and other emerging capabilities

Keith Townsend

IT infrastructure subject matter expert (Cloud, Virtualization, Network & Storage) praised for transforming IT operations in verticals that include Pharma, Software, Manufacturing, Government and Financial Services. Keith has lead projects that include consolidation of multiple data centers and combining disparate global IT operations.

John Rhoton

John Rhoton is a contributor to CBS Interactive's custom content group, which powers this Microsoft sponsored blog. He is a technology strategist who specializes in consulting to global enterprise customers with a focus on cloud computing.His tenure in the IT industry spans over twenty-five years at major technology companies, defining and implementing business strategy. He has recently led corporate technical strategy development, business development, and adoption of cloud services, datacenter transformation, mobility, security and next-generation networking, while also driving key corporate knowledge management and community-building programs.John is the author of six books. John Rhoton's views are his alone and do not necessarily represent those of Microsoft or CBSi.

Latest Posts

Dealing with Disaster

Although there is nothing IT departments can do to prevent natural disasters, Hybrid clouds enable IT to provide a great foundation for redundancy, which will ensure that mirrored infrastructure and applications remain intact when disaster strikes.

June 28, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Connecting the Dots in a Distributed Architecture

Protect your distributed resources, and empower your users, with a centralized policy engine.

June 24, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Designing Tomorrow’s Applications Today

What should you consider as you develop new business applications so that they will be successful as the datacenter evolves? Flexibility, speed, adaptability and automation all factor into the equation.

June 20, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Don’t Forget the Branch Office

A well-designed datacenter that effectively synchronizes information through the use of branch offices, can provide local users with instant access to centralized data. Additionally, dispersed local branch offices are less susceptible to outages, making them an additional option for disaster recovery.

June 13, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Building a People-Centric Datacenter

When redesigning your datacenter, people-centric IT must be a priority.

June 5, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

In Search of Innovation

The key to successfully innovating your datacenter is a well thought out execution plan; establish efficient daily operations, create long term adoption plans, and design a flexible, future-proof enterprise architecture.

May 29, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Big Data Invades the Datacenter

Big data is high volume, high velocity, real-time data that comes from all kinds of sources and ends up in a datacenter. To take full advantage of all this data, organizations need highly scalable storage and servers as well as the applications and frameworks to process all of the incoming data.

May 21, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

What does BYOD Mean to Your Datacenter Strategy?

What does the consumerization of IT have to do with the datacenter? In a word—everything. BYOD policies may be putting your datacenter at risk. A VDI approach to device provisioning can address security and access problems.

May 16, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Beyond Virtualization: Advantages of Automation

The average annual IT budget, when adjusted for inflation, is less now than it was 10 years ago. Automation can help control costs and create a more flexible and responsive infrastructure.

May 14, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Think the cloud isn’t ready for business critical apps? Time to think again.

Many IT managers are afraid to virtualize business-critical applications, but by neglecting the potential for more agility, they may be exposed to more risk. Safely virtualize business-critical services and enjoy cloud-based efficiencies.

May 9, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Architecting for High Performance

Virtualizing works well for small workloads, and can be a great advantage in high-performance computing applications when implemented correctly.

May 7, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

High-Performance Storage Architecture

Businesses win when they tap data in ways that enable them to perform complex business processes more efficiently. To do that, businesses must have a high-performance information infrastructures.

May 1, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Getting a Grip on Storage Growth

Storage growth is out of control! By addressing storage growth, you can manage costs.

April 29, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Storage Where You Need It, When You Need It

According to industry analysts, the amount of data being directly managed in enterprise datacenters will grow 14 fold over the next eight years. That’s a lot of information. It also implies a lot of infrastructure. But there is an irony here.

April 25, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers

Workloads in Motion

When there is an outage or spike in user activity, you don’t have the luxury of a long runway. It becomes necessary to make changes on-the-fly, even automatically in some cases, so that there is no human latency at all, and that is where workload mobility comes in.

April 24, 2013 by John Rhoton in Data Centers