Why Selling IT Infrastructure to SMBs Is Hard
Why Selling IT Infrastructure to SMBs Is Hard
By Michael Vizard
Number of Virtual Hosts
The vast majority of respondents have somewhere between four to 10 virtual hosts. By comparison, few have more than 11.
Number of Virtual Machines
The majority are running between one and 10 virtual machines. But a significant portion of the respondents are running between 11 and 100 virtual machines.
Level of Virtualization
Only 33% said they have virtualized 70% or more of their servers; 17% are 50% to 70% virtualized; and 21% are at less than 10%.
Type of Virtualization
Nearly half (46%) are running VMware vSphere. However, 25% report they are running Microsoft Hyper-V.
Investments in Virtualization Software
Most respondents plan to spend less than $10,000 for virtualization software. Most of the rest are somewhere between $10,000 and $100,000.
Size of Storage Environment
About half have less than 20TB, and 38% have 20TB to 100TB of total storage.
Storage Dedicated to Virtualization
Half have less than 10TB dedicated to virtualization. Only 36% have 10TB or more dedicated.
Storage Spending Plans
Roughly 15% have a storage area network/network attached storage replacement that needs to be done this year, while 18% will refresh their SAN/NAS in 2016 and 19% will refresh it in 2017 or later. Additionally, 13% said they don’t currently own a SAN/NAS. Well over one-third have no plans to replace their storage.
Use of Replication
Almost half (49%) have no replication in place but would like to leverage it. Another 20% would like to replace the solution they have.
Percentage of Infrastructure to Be Refreshed in 2015
Roughly 30% said they would need to replace between 10% or less of their infrastructure, followed by almost the same percentage who said that they would need to replace 10% to 50% of their server/storage infrastructure. Roughly 15% of all companies would need to replace 30% to 50% of their infrastructure.
Dollars Allocated to IT Infrastructure Upgrades
The majority of companies plan to spend $50,000 or less replacing their server or storage infrastructure in 2015. But a significant number also indicated that they plan to spend from $50,000 to more than $250,000.
Number of Servers Planned to Purchase
Roughly 30% of companies plan to purchase at least two new servers in the next six months and another roughly 20% plan to purchase at least two new servers in the next 12 months.
Top Data Center Challenges
Among the top challenges was complexity (18%), along with keeping infrastructure current and vendor finger-pointing (both tied at 16%).
Time Spent Keeping IT Infrastructure Current
A total of 12% said they will spend six to 16 weeks a year keeping their infrastructure up-to-date, while 6% said they will spend more than four months per year just to keep their servers and storage “current.”
Vendor Support Satisfaction
A full 66% said they are pleased with the service and support that they receive from their vendors. Only about 15% said they need better service and support from their products.