When the recession hit in 2008, the U.S. economy slowed dramatically. Large financial institutions collapsed and the country saw some of the worst unemployment rates since the Great Depression. Across all industries, organizations began tightening their belts, searching for ways to increase efficiency and cut costs. With IT budgets frequently targeted for these cuts, many organizations were challenged to streamline IT operations while also ensuring that the business remained competitive within its market.
In the past, organizations would piece data centers and networks together, with IT manually configuring, testing, and rolling out individual components. Scaling meant piecing together new parts with legacy equipment, but not necessarily evaluating the system as a whole or the future data center needs. As a result, organizations would end up with an infrastructure that worked and met user needs (for the most part), but was incredibly complex and required a great deal of maintenance. When challenged to cut costs, IT departments realized they needed to shift their priorities — and reduce the amount of time and effort spent “keeping the lights on.”