CIOs AND IT ADMINISTRATORS FACE A TOUGH DILEMMA—they want to play a more

direct role in shaping and facilitating their companies’

business strategies and are under increasing pressure

from the corner office to do just that. Standing in their

way are the many time-consuming demands associ-

ated with keeping their data centers up and running,

which prevent those data centers from operating as

efficiently and as cost-effectively as possible. It is

becoming more and more difficult to maintain service

levels while also fostering the agility necessary to

respond to business needs in a timely manner.

Given the time, IT leaders say they could add signifi-

cant value to their companies by helping to redesign

inefficient business processes, better aligning IT

initiatives to business goals, and engaging in a variety

of other business-enhancing activities, according to a

recent survey. The same survey, however, documents

that CIOs and IT administrators spend far too much

time manually performing tactical IT tasks and putting

out fires, and far too little time pursuing strategic

endeavors.

Shifting the balance of IT professional time from the

tactical to the strategic has become much more

attainable with the introduction of Hewlett-Packard

ProLiant Gen8 servers. The HP ProLiant Gen8 portfolio

delivers a collection of technologies and capabilities

that, combined, can automate and speed many of the

most time-intensive IT tasks and can eliminate some

of the costly problems and downtime that result from

human error. By offloading some of their daily tasks

to the cutting-edge ProLiant servers, administrators

can spend more of their time ensuring that IT delivers

greater business value to their companies.

Strategic IT: The Dream vs. The Reality

The simplification and automation needs of IT opera-

tions are as well documented as they have been diffi-

cult to solve. That said, IT shops have made progress of

late in moving beyond their former status as little more

than corporate cost centers. According to a recent

survey of IT managers and professionals conducted by

IDG Research Services, seven out of 10 respondents

say they already leverage their data centers as either

Automating a path to strategic IT

HP ProLiant Gen8 Servers: Shifting IT’s Focus from the Tactical to the Strategic

However, as Figure 3 shows, the majority of time is

spent performing tactical jobs such as routine main-

tenance and troubleshooting rather than strategic

activities. As a result, most IT organizations are seeing

a widening gap between what the business demands

and what IT has the time and resources to deliver.

The “black hole” time aspect of tactical IT jobs is why a

large majority of IT administrators place a high level of

importance on investing in automated and intelligent

solutions. As illustrated in Figure 4, nearly 60 percent

of survey respondents expect to invest in such solu-

tions within the next three years. If these smart and

automated solutions live up to their names, IT adminis-

trators will gain the time and the personnel needed to

play more strategic roles in their companies.

INTELLIGENCE AND AUTOMATION FOR TIME-INTENSIVE IT TASKSAs clearly illustrated by the IDG Research Services

survey results, IT professionals recognize that necessary

day-to-day server maintenance functions consume far

too much of their time and budgets. Hewlett-Packard

recognized this problem as well, and several years ago

decided to focus much of its new server development

on innovations that would help free IT professionals

from the time sink of routine yet important tasks. The

new ProLiant Gen8 rack and blade servers, which are

based on HP ProActive Insight architecture, incorporate

a broad collection of such innovations.

a strategic or transformational asset. At the same

time, as illustrated in Figure 1, far too many IT tasks are

manual and far too few are automated.

2 WHITE PAPER /// Automating a path to strategic IT

Redesigning business processes

Aligning IT initiatives to business goals

Analyzing data to identify trends and opportunities

Identifying opportunities for competitive differentiation

Leading change efforts

Cultivating relationships between IT and LOB

42%

40%

36%

30%

29%

28%

FIGURE 2 IT ACTIVITIES OFFERING THE GREATEST STRATEGIC BENEFIT

Source: IDG Research Services

Software installation and updating

System setup and configuration

Managing errors and system events

Initiating a service/ support tickets

Security management

Resolving noncritical issues

50%

45%

44%

35%

30%

30%

FIGURE 3 IT ACTIVITIES OCCUPYING THE MOST TIME CURRENTLY

Source: IDG Research Services

Data Center Administration Processes:

Updating firmware

System troubleshooting

Application tuning and acceleration

System provisioning

Security provisioning

Updating software

System monitoring

Data management/protection

Entirely/ Mostly Manual

52%

50%

43%

40%

30%

26%

21%

21%

FIGURE 1 LEVEL OF AUTOMATION CURRENTLY IN THE DATA CENTER

Source: IDG Research Services

As shown in Figure 2, survey respondents also identi-

fied a number of activities that can yield significant

benefits to their organizations, with “Redesigning

business processes” at the top of the value-add list. A

close second on the strategic activities list is “Aligning

IT initiatives to business goals.”

3 WHITE PAPER /// Automating a path to strategic IT

Each of the new servers, for example, includes HP

Intelligent Provisioning, which embeds all of the

necessary software, drivers and tools needed for

provisioning right in the box. This approach eliminates

the need to laboriously configure servers using multiple

CDs/DVDs and additional software. Throughout the

provisioning process, HP Intelligent Provisioning checks

the configuration for errors and identifies them so

administrators can make any needed corrections

before deployment. Thanks to this “plug and manage”

embedded provisioning capability, users are able to

deploy ProLiant Gen8 servers three times faster than

their ProLiant G7 predecessors.1

To reduce the burden associated with updating

firmware, drivers and software, HP pre-tests all such

components for interdependencies and packages

them in Service Packs for the ProLiant servers. Then

the HP Smart Update Manager tool can automatically

and simultaneously sequence, schedule and stage

updates across hundreds of servers in many different

configurations.

The Smart Update facility can triple administrator

productivity during updates since it requires less

manual interaction during the update process. Further-

more, due to the online update capability, HP internal

assessments of Smart Update Manager indicate that

the tool will reduce downtime by 93 percent during

online updates.2

When problems do occur, IT administrators often

spend considerable time running diagnostics and

reconstructing recent configuration changes before

they can even begin to identify the source of the

problem. In part to speed this initial post-problem

process, all ProLiant Gen8 servers incorporate an

embedded Active Health System. This agentless

monitoring system continuously tracks, logs, and time

stamps more than 1,600 system parameters as well as

all configuration changes. With this data immediately

available, should a problem occur, service personnel

are able to start root-cause analysis five times faster

than in previous-generation servers.3

Beyond helping IT managers automate and speed

provisioning, updating and problem diagnosis, the

HP ProLiant Gen8 servers provide improvements in

performance, efficiency, and reliability. Each ProLiant

now includes an HP Smart Array storage controller

that incorporates intelligent algorithms and analytics

to deliver six times4 faster solid-state performance,

along with the ability to efficiently manage and protect

massive amounts of data. Arrays of built-in tempera-

ture sensors help to precisely control airflow and fans.

In addition, the servers use HP SmartMemory that only

draw 1.35 volts per DIMM. Together, these energy-

efficiency features allow the new systems to deliver as

much as 70 percent more compute capability per watt

than previous generation servers.5

And, inserting new processors just got easier. With

Gen8, HP has created a Smart Socket Guide that safely

and easily removes and inserts processors without

damaging pins or damaging the motherboard. HP

estimates that this technology alone will eliminate

80 percent of failures caused by improper installation

of processors.6

Nearly 60 percent of survey respondents expect

to invest in smart and automated solutions within

the next three years. If these solutions live up to

their names, IT administrators will gain the time

and the personnel needed to play more strategic

roles in their companies.

FIGURE 4 LIKELIHOOD ASSIGNED TO AUTOMATED AND INTELLIGENT SYSTEM INVESTMENTS

20%Very Likely

39%Likely

1% Very unlikely

28%Not sure

12%Unlikely

Source: IDG Research Services

HP PROLIANT GEN8 LEVERAGES ADVANCED HP TECHNOLOGIES AND SERVICEThe ProLiant Gen8 servers introduce more than 150

innovative features that didn’t exist in previous genera-

tion servers. Beyond the technology embedded in the

servers themselves, however, HP also provides a range

of supporting technologies and services that leverage

and supplement the ProLiant Gen8 capabilities.

In the past, for example, when server problems

occurred, IT managers and their services partners

usually had to start from scratch to identify the cause

of the problem. Now, critical device information is

automatically gathered by the Active Health System

for the HP call centers. By using the newest version of

HP Insight Remote Support, HP server customers gain

24x7 phone-home diagnostics, troubleshooting, and

service dispatch capabilities along with the automatic

creation of support cases without human interven-

tion. The enhanced intelligence of this HP tool can

accelerate the time required to resolve problems by as

much as 66 percent.7

In addition, all system health, asset and support

information can be aggregated into a secure personal-

ized online dashboard called HP Insight Online. Based

on HP internal estimates, customers using HP Insight

Online can save as much as 90 percent of the time

spent tracking the status of contracts and warranties

and realize up to an 85 percent time savings in tracking

asset configurations.

To deliver higher-level management functionality,

HP has continued to enhance the popular HP Insight

Control management software. HP Insight Control

functionality spans system health, performance

monitoring, remote control, automated deployment

and migration, power management, and virtualiza-

tion management. An added benefit is that this HP

management software seamlessly integrates with the

HP IT Performance Suite, Microsoft System Center,

and VMware vCenter Server, giving users the option to

work with their preferred management console.

HP PROLIANT GEN8 SERVERS GIVE IT THE GIFT OF TIMEThe HP ProLiant Gen8 rack and blade servers—in

combination with the many supporting technologies

and services that HP offers—deliver a profusion of

automation, efficiency, and intelligence capabilities.

By leveraging these capabilities, CIOs and IT adminis-

trators can free themselves from many of the labor-

intensive tasks that currently consume much of their

time and that of their IT employees. With the aid of the

HP ProLiant servers, storage and services, IT managers

and experts can instead devote more of their time

delivering high-value IT strategies and solutions that

make their entire company more efficient, competitive,

and successful. n

4 WHITE PAPER /// Automating a path to strategic IT

HP ProLiant Gen8 servers

1 ProLiant Gen8 is over three times faster than G7 SmartStart “attended server provisioning”

2 Based on internal testing with a fully online firmware and system software update with HP SUM 5.0 vs. HP SUM 4.2.

3 Based on internal testing to run and send the RPS report vs. Active Health

4 Six-fold improved storage performance: testing of the new Smart Array controllers compared to the current generation Smart Array controllers in a RAID 6 configuration; Internal HP Lab testing

5 Based on HP internal testing with a 50 percent increase in server performance (OLTP applications), a 10 percent reduction in per-server energy consumption plus 7 percent cooling reduction from Intelligent Series rack. Assume a conservative PUE of 2.0 translates 7 percent cooling to 3.5 percent reduced cooling power. 10 percent (< per server) + 3.5 percent (< from “Intelligent Series” rack) = 13.5 percent. 150 percent (performance) x 113.5 percent (servers/P&C envelope) = 1.5 x 1.135 = 1.70

6 Based on field failure data, bent CPU socket pins account for 20 to 25 percent of system board failures. HP Engineering expects the Smart Socket Guide to solve 80 percent of these system board failures.

7 66 percent faster problem resolution time for HP Insight Remote Support-initiated cases (HW) vs. traditional phone support Source: HP internal call center data, Q4 2011