04 Nov 2008

Firms struggle to understand data centre finances, expert says

Many businesses are unsure where their money is being spent when it comes to data centre management, according to an industry expert at Microsoft.

Toby Velte, business development director at the firm, told IDG that many businesses tend to be unsure where all their money is going and struggle to calculate whether they are gaining a return on their data centre investment.

Issues that firms are often unaware of include the number of data servers in use, the cost of administrators and the type of machines in operation, he noted.

Mr Velte added: "We can then show them the effects from hardware changes, software licensing changes, the use of professional services, internal headcount reductions, the cost of removing and recycling old equipment."

Meanwhile, recent research by Thales found that half of firms who manage onsite data centres are unsure as to where their business would store data tape backup encryption keys.

Companies in the UK and Europe are currently making more progress with efforts to optimise their data centres compared to those in the US, Mr Velte said.