Many IT organizations still perform a majority of Data Center administration tasks manually. Today, manual techniques are obsolete as Information Technology is required to manage complex multivendor infrastructures cost-effectively. There is one way to meet this challenge and that is Automation. 

This EMA white paper addresses the challenges of a complex multi-tier environment. It highlights specific examples of how virtualization provides measurable ROI, looks at the challenges for data center management that virtualization introduces, and most importantly, it provides specific and actionable recommendations for managing virtual systems. 

In a dynamic virtual environment where things are constantly changing, your VM documentation efforts become out-of-date as soon as you begin the time-consuming process. 

Enterprise Management Associates® (EMA®) research shows 75% of CIOs are facing budget cuts. Most CIOs need to go beyond obvious cost reduction measures to address the largest single IT cost - staff. This whitepaper will discuss the ways that Workload automation can effect real cost savings. 

Dell and VMware have partnered to offer a cost-effective, high-availability architecture based on Dell™ server and storage clusters and VMware® vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM) - one designed to minimize scheduled and unscheduled downtime. 

MKS Toolkit for Developers speeds the software development and administration process and reduces errors by eliminating the time spent on tedious manual tasks. MKS Toolkit dramatically improves the compatibility between Windows and UNIX environments. 

Check out this eBook to learn how to unify fault, performance and configuration management to increase uptime, reduce costs, and reduce human error. 

With the release of Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, organizations have access to new capabilities such as Live Migration and Windows Powershell 2.0 that will reduce the cost of datacenter operations, enhance security and availability, while improving server environment manageability. 

Check out this white paper for a discussion on network changes; IP address management; Core Network Services solutions; and the benefits of integrated, automated IP. 

As data center infrastructures become increasingly complex, so do the IT processes--such as incident management and server provisioning--that keep infrastructure up and running. 

Watch this videocast to learn about a management tool that monitors your data center's physical infrastructure throughout its entire lifecycle, helping protect it from physical threats. Learn how you can leverage this tool to improve temperature and humidity monitoring, decrease malware and compliance threats. 

Register today for a Data Center of the Future live virtual event on December 15 and 16, 2009. Throughout this two-day live event, you'll be able to learn how Cisco – together with world class eco-system partners – is helping IT deliver more value to business by taking a fresh approach to the way data center infrastructure is designed and deployed.