CASE STUDY : DATA CENTER CONSOLIDATION AT GUARDIAN LIFE

Discussion Points

1. Do some Internet research on the reasons why businesses generally invest in data center consolidation projects. What benefits do they commonly hope to realize? How do Guardian's rationale for consolidating data centers compare to those of other businesses?

2. Getting outside consultants to manage data center consolidation projects is a common practice. Discuss the pros and cons of using
consultants to manage data center consolidation projects?

3. How/why has virtualization fueled business interest in data center consolidation?

4. Why is the availability of high-speed, high bandwidth communications an important consideration in data center consolidation plans and
decision-making?

5. Do some Internet research on modular (pod) data centers. Summarize the advantages of disadvantages of modular data centers.

6. Guardian is consolidating from six to two data centers supplemented with SaaS cloud services. As the company continues to move applications to the cloud, could it consolidate to zero data centers? Why or why not?

7. Do you think that winning multiple CIO 100 awards has encouraged Guardian's IT executives to recommend risky IT projects? Why or why
not?