It is common knowledge that China has a central place in global technology growth. And while much of the country’s activities are tightly kept secrets, recent news shows how China is taking its information technology (in the literal sense of the word) “underground”.
China is so highly populated that real estate prices are ranked among the highest in the world. So Hong Kong is intensifying its innovation and building underground data centers to help curb costs. According to some sources, two thirds of the land in the region has “high to medium suitability” for cave digging, which makes underground data centers an ideal option. The subterranean data centers would supposedly lower the risk of both physical attacks and most natural disasters.
The federal government is closing nearly 800 of its 2000 data centers in the next four years, according to the
New York Times. Over four years, the government will swap its sprawl of data centers in favor of cloud computing technology.
The federal CIO, Vivek Kundra, says “Tapping cloud computing services could save the government an additional $5 billion a year, reducing the need for individual government agencies to buy their own software and hardware.” By switching to a cloud-based email solution alone, the General Services Administration and Department of Agriculture have saved $42 million.
One reason a business may be hesitant to move their servers to a cloud computing provider is their current licensing structures make it difficult. In July, it will be easier than ever for businesses to use the cloud. Microsoft announced that on July 1st, it will allow customers the flexibility of deploying their servers on-premises or on the Cloud through a Microsoft Service Provider. The new licensing structure is called “License Mobility.”
Let’s say you have a current set of Microsoft servers with volume licensing purchased under Software Assurance. Previously, if you wanted to host those servers in the Cloud, you would eat the cost of those licenses and have to buy more. In July, however, the cost advantage of the cloud will apply to even your existing licenses.
“The horse is here to stay but the automobile is only a novelty, a fad.”
Obviously, the banker advising against investment in Henry Ford’s automobile company was flat wrong. There is an obvious relationship between traditional IT and the horse and buggy. Each had their time in the sun, and each faced widespread replacement. What I mean is that information technology is undergoing industry-wide changes that will massively upset the “old world” of IT services. As a small to medium-sized business, we must ask “why?” In tandem with several key advances in technology, there is one dominant factor: economies of scale.