We took the success from the "1,100 – How Many Federal Data Centers Does It Take..." event in May 2010 in Washington D.C. on the road. Third and final stop – a breakfast event in Tampa, FL on May 25, 2011 at the Westin Tampa Harbour Island.

Key messages from the event's discussion include:

• Consolidation and the Cloud
  • Consolidate data centers to enable cloud benefits
  • Connect for cost avoidance:
    • Data replication/de-duplication
    • Server virtualization/density impact on consolidation
    • WAN optimization – setting stage for optimization
  
  
• Consolidation Lessons Learned:
  • Consolidate IT services
  • Manage and condense assets/apps
  • Secure leadership buy-in – importance of strategic communications and governance
  • Strengthen knowledge management/organizational culture -- build on a series of incremental successes to encourage sharing
  • Connect with continuity of operations (COOP)/disaster recovery plans
  
  
• Key Steps to Keeping Consolidation Moving
  • Communicate, communicate, communicate
  • Highlight "wins" for various audiences
  • Highlight benefits in terms customer understands (availability of services)
  
  
• Aligning Budgets to Enable Consolidation
  • Structure contracts using fixed unit prices, variable quantities
  • Make vendors responsible for reporting quantities
  
  
• Mitigating Security/Privacy Concerns
  • Own your own data/network/cloud
  • Look to industry for best practices
  
  

» Click here to view photos from the event