Ads by TechWords

See your link here
Receive the latest technology news and information.
Computerworld Daily News (First Look and Wrap-Up)
Computerworld Blogs Newsletter
The Weekly Top 10
Cloud Computing
View all newsletters




Privacy Policy
 

Q&A: AFCOM president says data center management needs image upgrade

The perceptions of young IT workers could feed a skills shortage, says Jill Eckhaus

June 17, 2004 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - Jill Eckhaus, the president of AFCOM, an Orange, Calif.-based professional association for data center managers spoke with Computerworld yesterday about the key issues facing AFCOM's members and the need to change the perception among young IT workers that managing data centers isn't an exciting job.

What are the big issues for data center managers these days? Security is huge because [end users] aren't just internal but external as well, because you have people on the Internet. Spam is a big issue in data centers now. Regulatory compliance is big. Disaster recovery has become a huge issue since 9/11. A lot of things have happened, and data center managers have to be a lot more on the ball than they used to be because the outside world has changed so much.
Downsizing staffs is another big issue. If you cut down on your staff, that's not always the most cost-efficient way to run your data center. You might have to spend more money to buy software to manage the operations for you.
Speaking of data center staffing, we always hear about a looming shortage of mainframe skills. But we get lots of e-mail from out-of-work Cobol programmers saying they can't find jobs. How do you reconcile those two things? You can't train somebody in India to manage a data center, but you can train them to do Cobol programming. When we talk about an enterprise systems skills shortage, we mean things like change management and running the facilities. We're not talking about Cobol programming, which unfortunately is really easy to outsource.

Jill Eckhaus, the president of AFCOM
Jill Eckhaus, the president of AFCOM
So offshore outsourcing isn't really an issue for data center managers? Outsourcing is still an issue for them, but it's not as big as disaster recovery or government compliance or security. Those are the issues that affect their daily lives.
Is there enough interest among up-and-coming IT workers in acquiring mainframe skills to make it economically feasible for universities to offer training programs? We call it an enterprise systems skills shortage because it's more than mainframes now. But we need to get young people going into IT excited about doing these jobs. This issue isn't going to go away. Data center workers have always tended to be in their late 40s and 50s, but this time there's no younger IT workers coming along to replace them.



Why not? I think it's a perception that they have. If you just look at the mainframe, it's seen as a dinosaur -- and who wants to work on


Jump to comments

Data Center

Additional Resources

Xerox
By using solid ink technology only from Xerox, you could save up to 65% by printing color for the cost of black and white. Enter for a chance to WIN a PhaserTM 8860 network color printer!
Microsoft
Save time and mitigate security risk. Deploy it now.
Sybase
In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.

White Papers & Webcasts

Opportunities and Challenges with the Convergence of Data Center Networks
Computerworld and Juniper invite you to download this white paper.  

Effectively Implementing Datacenter Automation
Effectively select and deploy the best datacenter automation solution today!

Data Center Survival Guide
Computerworld and Juniper invite you download this white paper today!  

Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.

Optimize Performance of Datacenter to Datacenter Traffic
To get the backups and database synchronizations completed on time, enterprises rely on WAN optimization from Blue Coat.  

Data Protection is not an insurance policy -you cannot buy-back lost data
Find out why you need to maintain access to critical information to run your business and remain competitive.

2 Minutes to IT workload automation
Download this Complimentary Video! Sponsored by BMC Software.

Intelligent Tiered Storage: BlueArc's Implementation
This ESG White Paper discusses the importance of tiered storage, examines BlueArc's approach to intelligent tiering, and shows how it creates operational value...  

Three IT Strategies to Cut Cost Intelligently
Register for this Webcast! Provided by BMC Software.

 


Enterprise Data Center Network Reference Architecture
Simply designing a data center that only deploys more servers, storage and devices significantly increases network complexity and cost. The data center network also must offer components such as security, performance acceleration, high density and a resilient network infrastructure. This document shares Juniper Networks best practices in designing a highly efficient, secure, scalable and flexible data center network.

View this webcast 
Advancing the Economics of Networking
Aging network systems and old habits have dictated how businesses spend their IT budgets. As a result, a large percentage of IT dollars are being spent to “stay in the race.” While this model keeps revenue streams flowing for legacy network vendors, it doesn’t necessarily help businesses gain a competitive advantage. Juniper is changing this economic model by delivering a new family of solutions that reduce capital and operational expenses. By freeing up IT budget dollars, Juniper allows businesses to invest in other innovative technologies that will further reduce the cost of doing business while improving their competitive position.

Download this white paper 
Implementing HA at the Enterprise Data Center Edge to Connect to a Large Number of Branch Offices
This paper reviews the problem of creating a network where the dynamic availability of services is of critical importance. It explains how to deploy a highly available, working cluster by taking the design considerations in this paper and applying them to an actual deployment. The subsequent sections include configuration bits, diagrams and detailed discussions of how to accomplish a High Availability (HA) data center deployment.
Download this white paper