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November 21, 2008

Vision’s Survey Exposes Major Shortcomings of i Shops

After a year of extensive research and interviews, Vision Solutions has finally released a detailed 20-page report regarding disaster recovery expectations, technologies, and the state of systems management. The report, "The State of Resilience and Optimization on IBM Power Systems," is based on a year-long study that includes survey data from more than 2,000 technical professionals and executives involved with the management of IBM i and AIX environments.

Edward Vesely, Vision Solutions' senior vice president of marketing, admitted that when first compiling the data, Vision "had a good idea of what the results might reveal about IBM i and AIX customers' business resiliency technologies and systems optimization practices.”" But surprisingly, while most survey respondents admitted that achieving aggressive recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives is certainly crucial, a large number of businesses don’t have any technologies in place to support those goals. But even with this sad, scary thought in mind, Vesely assured me that overall, Vision feels optimistic about the information gathered, saying that the research is also encouraging (at least for Vision) because it exposes the huge market opportunity still existing in high availability and disaster recovery nearly 20 years after the AS/400 was first released. So, there is still room for growth in the IBM i sector.

Among the survey results, Vision determined that the biggest problem with current trends is the lack of a reliable, predictable disaster plan: "It is imperative that technologies and processes currently in place achieve recovery time objectives and recovery point objectives, even though a large percentage of firms surveyed do not have appropriate technologies in place to achieve their stated goals."

Also, the survey showed that for most companies, the "putting out fires" approach is still thriving, although protecting data and staying highly available are finally delineating themselves as two separate animals in respondents' minds: “Data protection and high availability are related but have distinctly different objectives. In general, companies are adopting solutions to address both areas, but keeping data and applications continuously available has not been as consistently addressed as protecting against catastrophic data loss,” says Vesely. But survey respondents did admit that they are listening to this mantra, as technologies for recovering from and actively avoiding downtime are gaining support, albeit slowly.
In this time of economic struggle, productivity and efficiency were also at the top of the respondents’ worries list. Keeping data accurate, current, and relevant is a major factor in making sure that a business is staying on top of its targets. Because, “As data stores grow, so do labor and downtime costs,” explains the report.

So, the advice is clear: while survey respondents are starting to come around to the fact that high availability is an important part of any disaster plan, it can be difficult to take on yet another work duty when the i seems to be so steadfast and dependable. But, when a business’s budget is lower than ever, mistakes can be more costly than ever, too. Vesely offers this parting advice about finding the right solution: “Do your research. High availability and disaster recovery solutions are core infrastructure offerings that keep businesses running smoothly. Consider the provider’s technology, viability, and references—along with their class of customer support, which is truly priceless insurance.”

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of the AS/400, Vision Solutions and IBM will host a free “State of Resilience on Power Systems” webcast Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2008 at 11 a.m. EST. The event will feature IBM's Scott Handy and Vision's Edward Vesely who will discuss some recent Power Systems technology and market developments as well as findings from Vision's report. Participants who register for the Dec. 2 webcast also will receive an advanced copy of “The State of Resilience and Optimization on IBM Power Systems.” Register today by going to www.visionsolutions.com/stateofpower.

--Erin Bradford, systems management & availability editor

Posted by ebradford on November 21, 2008 at 10:13 AM | Comments (1)