Analysis & Reports

The independent analysis and reports below that have been developed by well-known research firms demonstrates the analyst community's investment in and commitment to helping government and industry achieve data consolidation.

Researchers have approached data center consolidation from a variety of different angles, including topics such as; how agencies aren't tracking data center consolidation savings effectively; why some agencies are still challenged in distinguishing between virtualization and cloud computing; the leading IT priorities for industry and how those solutions can be used to help federal agencies achieve the same goals; why virtualization will be the key technology solution, with cloud computing coming in second; how cultural and political issues can hamper progress.

As the benefits of data center consolidation are publically recognized and savings begin to impact global budget considerations, the analyst community will continue to weigh in. Check FDCCI Connect for updates as new reports from these market influencers are published.

RightScale’s “State of the Cloud” Survey 2013
This second annual survey of 625 companies found that the large majority of organizations are strongly committed to utilizing cloud and are learning critical lessons in security, access to infrastructure and application time to market that can shorten the learning curve for those coming up to speed in their cloud adoption and speed their return on investment. Read more

The 2013 State of Virtualization Survey
The annual survey, conducted by DataCore Software, suggests that organizations are eager to virtualize their mission-critical applications, but that storage-related costs and performance issues remain significant obstacles to achieving those objectives. Read more

The State and Local Big Data Gap
This report, conducted by Meritalk and sponsored by NetApp, is based on a survey of state and local IT professionals that sought to gain an understanding of the opportunities for using big data at the state and local level, what infrastructure and other functionality is needed, the top benefits to be gained, the greatest barriers that currently exist and the steps agencies need to take to get big data programs on track to realize cost savings and improve citizen services. Read more

Global Data Center Construction Market 2012-2016
This report, released in March 2013 and conducted by TechNavio, analyzes the factors driving an increased demand for data centers, current trends in data center technologies and powering and cooling solutions, the operational benefits being achieved and the challenges that remain. Read more

Enterprise CloudScapes: 2012-13 IOUG Cloud Computing Survey
This report, based on a survey of 262 data managers and professionals, many of whom are members of the Independent Oracle User Group, explored cloud computing patterns within enterprises and concluded that cloud computing continues gaining converts and is pushing down deep roots within organizations that have deployed the approach. Read more

2013 State of Cloud Security Report
This latest report by Alert Logic, a leading provider of Security-as-a-Service solutions for the cloud, is based on a comparative analysis of security threats across thousands of customers with infrastructures in either enterprise data centers or the cloud environments of more than 20 hosting providers. This year’s report concluded, among other things, that Web application attacks are the most significant security threat for IT infrastructures but that cloud and hosted environments are not inherently less secure than enterprise data centers. Read more

2013: What is Driving the 2013 Data Center Market?
Sponsored by Digital Realty, a leading global provider of data center solutions and based on research conducted by Campos Research & Analysis, this report is based on the input of senior IT leadership at major North American corporations. Among its findings are that nearly all respondents are planning data center expansions in 2013 and 2014, driven by internal cloud implementations and the need for increased security, energy efficiency and new applications and services. Read more

“Infrastructure Independence: Set My IT Free”
This new study, conducted by MeriTalk and underwritten by Brocade, examines the benefits of a multi-vendor environment and what is holding agencies back from realizing infrastructure independence. Read more

2013 State of the Cloud Report
This annual report, put together by CDW LLC, is an assessment of the current and future drivers behind cloud computing adoption in the United States. Based on a survey of 1,242 IT professionals familiar with their organization’s plans for the cloud, the report found that more than half of organizations are migrating or planning to migrate specific applications or infrastructure to the cloud, and that personal use of cloud services is significantly influencing organizational decisions. Read more

2013 BSA Global Cloud Computing Scorecard
This report tracks and reports year-over-year changes in the international policy landscape for cloud computing. Among its findings: Uneven progress in the policy environment means that some countries are making big strides to improve their cloud readiness while others—including some of the world’s largest technology markets—have stalled or even backtracked. Read more

Virtualization Data Protection Report 2013
As organizations consolidate and put more data center into virtualized environments, this report, sponsored by Veeam Software, provides insights from 500 CIOs about the data protection issues that continue to plague virtualization implementation and operation. Read more

“The Common Pitfalls of Data Center Consolidation and How to Make It Work for You”
This free, downloadable issue brief, put out by the Government Business Council, discusses the most common consolidation challenges and problems agencies are facing in their FDCCI efforts, how to avoid them and how agencies can make the most of consolidation. Read more

IT Optimization in the Public Sector
Based on a series of in-depth interviews with a mix of public sector IT executives, this research report, developed by the KPMG Shared Services and Outsourcing Institute, analyzes the government’s use of shared services to assess the impact shared services brings to IT optimization and service delivery and identifies and evaluates options for delivering business support services in the most effective and efficient means possible. Read more

“A Virtual Infrastructure”
This report from Government Computer News offers an update on the state of virtualization within the Federal government, including server, application and desktop virtualization, and why the focus is now on managing the complexities of the infrastructure that supports it. Read more

“How the Shared Services Strategy is Bridging the Gap Between Business Managers and IT Shops”
This Government Business Council issue brief, available for free download, discusses the challenges of consolidating services and defining requirements for new applications to operate on shared platforms and how new technologies and the Shared Services Strategy are better enabling partnerships between business and IT managers. Read more

State of the Cloud 2013
This report, conducted by CDW, surveyed more than 1,200 IT decision-makers in industry and government to determine what factors are now driving the shift to the cloud, what types of applications organizations are taking to the cloud and what benefits (beyond cost savings) they are achieving. Read more

Avoiding the Hidden Costs of Cloud
Based on a survey of business and IT executives at more than 3200 organizations in 29 countries, this Symantec-sponsored report explored the deployment of cloud applications and the unexpected costs and challenges that are hindering their efforts. Read more

InfoPro Server and Virtualization Report, January 2013
Designed for IT professionals, this report, conducted by 451 Research, captures highlights from the complete study, and provides business intelligence in the form of technological roadmaps, budget trends, 'voice of the customer' narratives and vendor spending plans and performance ratings. Read more

Mission Critical Cloud: Ready for the Heavy Lift
This new downloadable Meritalk report, sponsored by Carahsoft, EMC and VMWare, shares the perspective of 151 Federal IT executives and who they view as barriers, current status and future plans related to moving mission-critical applications to the cloud. Read more

Data Center Strategies: Make the Most of a Consolidation or Migration
This online report, sponsored by General Dynamics Information Technologies and offered through 1105 Government Media, provides details on the latest advances in a next-generation data center, strategies to improving data center operations and best practices to put in place and mistakes to avoid when for paring down the number of data centers. Read more

Federal Information Technology Market, 2012-2017
This report from Deltek discusses how declines in Federal IT spending will affect Federal IT strategies and focus, including data center consolidation, cloud computing and business process modernization. Read More

Best Practices: Some Confidence and Some Hesitation—Surprising Results from Our Government Cloud and Enterprise Architecture Survey
New IDC Government Insights report details the progress of cloud solutions at Federal agencies while also examining the related enterprise architecture needs and the impact that the use of cloud services will have on infrastructure and IT strategy going forward. Read More

The Customer is Always Right: The Fed Exec IT Consumer Report
This new free, downloadable MeriTalk study, sponsored by EMC Corporation, reveals how Federal executives view and leverage IT currently, as well as how they believe IT can support them in the future. Read More

Report: Government Data Center Consolidation Initiatives Aim at Achieving Security, Recovery and Efficiency Gains
i360Gov.com reports that network transformation, rather than WAN optimization, is critical in the consolidation of servers and applications. Learn about this—and other—tactics that can help facilitate FDCCI compliance. Read More

Report: Data Center Optimization
This special report from Federal Computer Week online magazine presents commentary on a variety of topics relevant to the FDCCI mandate, including the OMB’s 25-point plan, security tips, energy efficiency guidelines, data center optimization and practical advice. Read More

Report: Consolidation Conundrum Research Report
The OMB’s focus on agency data center consolidation is intended to cut costs, but can cause an increase in complexity—and associated managing costs—in the remaining data centers. This survey report covers 200 Federal IT professionals’ predictions for the change in capacity demand, and their readiness to address the associated management, security, and performance issues. Read More

ESG Research: Avoiding the Hazards of IT Consolidation
This technology brief explains how to address issues of IT consolidation with appropriate technology and methods. Read More

INPUT: Assessment of the 2010 Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative
This research report provides a detailed view of federal government data center inventories, including CPU utilization, and power usage effectiveness ratios. It also provides INPUT projections regarding the financial impact of consolidation on federal IT budgets over the next five years. This report is designed to enhance the business development planning process with relevant strategic analysis. Read More

Brookings: Steps to Improve Cloud Computing in the Public
This paper explains how federal policy is hindering technology advances, and how to fix the problem. Recommendations include developing more consistent rules, creating a more uniform certification process for federal agencies, updating the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and expanding Apps.gov. Read More