Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 02 | Page 16

TRENDING WHY DATA CENTRE ‘AVAILABILITY’ IS HERE TO STAY The era of the ‘Always-On’ business has emerged, thanks to a rise in improved connectivity and devices that allow easy and affordable access to the Internet. Our agile mobile workforce and demanding consumer expectations have created a world where constant access to products and services across time zones is a norm that we take for granted, writes Gregg Petersen, Regional Director, Middle East and SAARC at Veeam Software. C onsequently, organisations now face the daunting task of recovering any IT service or application within minutes – creating what is collectively known as ‘Availability’. To achieve greater speed and efficient use of existing resources, many organisations have switched to modern data centres that are built on virtualisation, modern storage solutions and cloud-based services. Yet, according to Veeam’s fourth annual Data Centre Availability Report 2014, organisations still experience unplanned application downtime. These downtimes occur more than once a month on average, costing organisations between $1.4 million and $2.3 million annually in lost revenue (not to mention the decreased productivity and missed opportunities). 16 INTELLIGENTCIO Regardless of whether it’s a consumerfacing organisation, a mobile service provider, or the FTSE 100, the days of organisations experiencing any downtime while customers remain patient are over. Organisations now risk losing revenue, customer confidence and worse, reputation. With Availability seen to be missioncritical for smooth business operations, how do organisations ensure that they can remain Always-On and keep up with adopting the latest developments in cloud computing, mobility and the Internet of Things; as well as manage Big Data and Software Defined Networking? Cloud computing and mobility In many countries across the world, the explosion in mobility has become the www.intelligentcio.com