Welcome to Datacentre Times a site looking at all the technologies used in the datacentre. Here you will not only find news and articles about servers, operating systems and applications but also about rack systems, power and cooling, ITSM and any other technology used in the datacentre.

Over the last decade the datacentre has changed dramatically. Where once the datacentre was seen as the legacy of mainframes today enterprises and even small companies have datacentres. This is a clear reflection of the impact that computing has had upon businesses. Yet not all of these datacentres are in house or even managed by the company. The use of hosting, co-location and outsourcing has also risen dramatically in the last decade.

The changes to the datacentre are far from complete. Much of the emphasis over the last few years has been about blade servers, dense computing and virtualisation. The reality is that most datacentres are far from done with this and it will be a key topic for some time to come. Alongside this has come the current concerns over power usage. For many, the move to blade systems and virtualisation is more than just about getting more from their computing assets, it's about gaining control of power. We are not just talking about how power is used but making that move from a CapEx to an OpEx budget.

If this wasn't enough, there are those who believe that the datacentre needs a new challenge and one that has the potential to stand the last three decades on their head. Desktop Virtualisation is the last level of virtualisation required to move away from the chaotic anti-mainframe, decentralised IT environment that many of us operate in. The challenges here cannot be underestimated. Quality of Service, power, storage, service levels and management - vendors would have you believe that the savings in all these areas will pay for themselves in a short space of time. Yet few of the solutions out there are easily deployable and we need more clarity on the risks as well as the rewards.

With a mix of news, articles, reviews and interviews, Datacentre Times will keep you in touch with what is happening in the datacentre today.

f you have any comments, want to see more of a particular subject or think we have missed a technology completely then drop us a line at:  editor@datacentretimes.com.