There are several popular misconceptions about cloud and virtualization. One of the most popular is virtualization versus cloud. It is not one or the another, but rather the first step to moving to the cloud is virtualization, says Todd Cowles of Iron Bow, in this latest video. However, there is often a gap between virtualization and moving to the cloud.
Cowles explains that the silver lining in the economic downturn for many agencies was that efficiencies and cost savings become a priority for IT initiatives. Agencies began taking a closer look at the data center, and initiatives like the Federal Data Center Consolidation Initiative (FDCCI) arose, requiring consolidation of assets. These requirements have driven virtualization across agencies.
Today, many agencies are mapping out their assets, streamlining and virtualizing for ease of management and increased efficiency. Once virtualization occurs, the seeds of moving to the cloud have been planted and agencies are ready to move the data sets into a cloud environment.