Modernizing Your IT Infrastructure with Dell EMC Data Protection and VMware Automation

Aligning data protection with business needs

A clear, unambiguous and widely-communicated data protection strategy is critical to the successful IT transformation of an organization, and the importance of aligning IT more closely with your current business needs cannot be emphasized enough. In fact, companies spend countless hours, and most of their tech budget, on keeping systems running. What happens when unplanned events make it nearly impossible to continue “business as usual”? When it comes to business continuity, perhaps the biggest risk most companies face is not having a disaster recovery plan or data protection strategy at all.

The creation of a data protection strategy may seem overwhelming at first, but it shouldn’t. It is not intended to be a precise, detailed set of instructions for every technology associated with your data. Rather it should be a clear, concise, high-level analysis of what technologies or applications your organization should prioritize, with guidance to lower the risks associated with the adoption of these technologies.

On top of that, there is an ever-increasing array of data protection strategy standards your business is expected to adhere to. According to ESG’s Data Protection Predictions for 2020, compliance mandates like GDPR and CCPA do a good job of reminding businesses that they had better be on top of their data. That said, it shouldn’t take the most recent breach at a business to remind us to protect our clients’, partners’, employees’, company’s and our own most valuable asset: data.

So where is all your data stored?

According to the 2020 Global Data Protection Index, most hybrid cloud approaches for application deployments will be based on VMware infrastructure. And when it comes to protecting complex environments, specifically large-scale VMware environments, there are some common pain points for those who have this responsibility. ESG recently took a closer look at this topic on behalf of Dell Technologies, with a focus on data protection.

ESG found that deployments of virtualization technology are overwhelmingly hybrid and they are equally split between on-premises and public cloud, on average. Overall, while IT organizations are very comfortable with virtualization technology, they struggle with skill sets and, operationally, with data protection, despite its importance.

So why are organizations turning to a hybrid cloud environment, within a VMware environment?

◉ Fit-for-Purpose: Store your most sensitive data on dedicated hardware while simultaneously benefiting from the cost efficiency of the cloud, particularly with superior Dell EMC deduplication and on-demand scalability.

◉ Improve Security: Place your sensitive customer data on a dedicated server while running your front-end applications in the public cloud – creating a seamless, agile and secure environment.

◉ Cost Benefits: Reduce your TCO, match your cost patterns to your revenue/demand patterns and transition from a capital-intensive cost model to an OpEx-based model.

◉ Drive Innovation: Reduce business risk and take advantage of emerging cloud technologies, while still retaining core applications within your data centers.

◉ Seamless Integration with Data Protection: Add Dell EMC Data Protection solutions seamlessly to your hybrid cloud to provide organizations, with additional confidence and peace of mind that your data and investments are always protected.

There are some key VM data protection challenges that were also identified, with recoverability, performance and scalability being key areas of concern. VM recovery failures lead to negative operational efficiency and business impacts and can trigger a domino effect of compliance violations and customer exposures.

VMware automation demands success

Beyond these challenges, data protection is the number one functional challenge (putting IT skills aside) to be resolved when it comes to VM environments. The complexity of configuring and operating data protection solutions can be challenging. Fortunately, not all solutions are created equal. Organizations can eliminate the traditional cost and complexity of data protection and disaster recovery with Dell EMC data protection and VMware automation. As more users adopt virtualization, the deep integration of Dell EMC Data Protection with the VMware user interface becomes more and more important. The Dell EMC portfolio of data protection products provides the best user experience, with automation and orchestration across the entire VMware stack.

A large-scale VMware deployment story

One Dell Technologies global customer is building a three-to-five-year strategy that involves eliminating their data centers and moving 50 percent of infrastructure to colocations and 50 percent to the cloud with 50,000 VMs. Dell EMC Data Protection is the main partner for all colocations. The virtual machine (VM) automation capabilities are key to moving from the 40/40/20 (colo/cloud/premises) strategy they currently have to the 50/50/0 they want – all protected. They shared:

“We made a significant commitment with an investment in Dell Technologies over the next four years. Leadership has agreed that as they move toward their automation strategy, Dell Technologies will be exclusive to all data centers moving forward. This investment in PowerProtect DD, Data Protection Suite Enterprise and ECS aligns with their automation strategy. The consolidation efforts require that each component of the data center support the new strategy. The Dell EMC Data Protection team and the solutions that they provided gave us a consistent, reliable, repeatable experience.”

Modernizing your IT Infrastructure

Looking toward the future, as IT professionals look to modernize their backup solution, it should come as no surprise that organizations value efficiencies, ease of use and a simplified environment. Protecting large-scale VM deployments can be complex and there is still opportunity for improvement. The good news is that Dell EMC Data Protection offers some great solutions today to alleviate these challenges. What’s more, Dell EMC Data Protection and VMware are committed to delivering jointly engineered products, making it easier for our customers to maximize and protect their IT investment now and into the future. Together, we allow customers to harness the power of the cloud in an integrated manner, and no other vendor provides as much depth and breadth of enterprise data protection as Dell Technologies.

Read the full ESG Study: Data Protection Trends in Virtual Environments.

View the infographic: Data Protection Trends in Virtual Environments.