Prior to deploying file virtualization, Colonial Williamsburg’s storage requirements were handled separately by each department. Budgets were separate, and stove-piped infrastructure was the modus operandi.
Business requirements to provide access to rich media assets and to use resources more efficiently drove the need to consolidate IT resources. Colonial Williamsburg could have approached alternatives such as backing-up data from laptops and desktops directly to the cloud, freeing up space. However it was simpler and of greater business value to implement F5’s file virtualization technology. This change also gave all users full access to the vast stores of historical information (rich media). The bottom line is IT organizations must remove the current stove-piped views of infrastructure architecture and management.
Action Item: The IT organization must develop trust across lines of business so that a shared storage and network infrastructure model can be delivered. The virtualized infrastructure can deliver consistent access times, high availability and adequate service levels, even for infrequently accessed data. In the absence of chargebacks in a virtualized world, notwithstanding organizational constraints, storage budgets must also be shared among business units for optimal efficiency. Ultimately this will allow internal IT organizations to become more competitive with cloud service providers.
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