Three award-winning authors and technologists have published a new book, Building a Modern Data Center: Principles and Strategies of Design, that provides practical advice on how to use new technologies such as hyperconvergence, software-defined data centers and the cloud to meet the business challenges facing today's IT organizations. Written by a former CIO and virtualization experts Scott D. Lowe, David M. Davis and James Green, in partnership with Atlantis Computing, Building a Modern Data Center is an industry insider's look at the potential and obstacles of leveraging emerging data center technologies to become more agile, lower infrastructure costs and improve availability.

Incorporating research data from more than 1,200 IT professionals from 53 countries, the new book is part history lesson and part how-to guide for delivering new IT services. It traces the evolution of the enterprise data centers from legacy islands of data, through virtualization and cloud, to the rise of software-defined data centers.

"A decade ago, IT administrators prided themselves on their silos," said Lowe, partner and cofounder of ActualTech Media. "But that organizational mentality has come and gone, and the IT department of the future is becoming much more tightly integrated and highly generalized. With increasing demands on IT and with dwindling budgets, the IT teams that can adapt quickly and establish themselves as people who can pivot to the needs of the business will be in the highest demand. This new publication will bring IT professionals quickly up to speed on creating business value from the intersection of flash storage, hyperconvergence and cloud infrastructures."

Readers will learn why hyperconvergence, software-defined data center and cloud-based IT services will play an increasingly important role in the datacenter of the future. Building a Modern Data Center will be an important tool for CIOs, architects and IT administrator with coverage of many practical topics, including key outcomes expected from IT, data protection needs, the ins and outs implementing software-defined storage and hyperconverged infrastructure, and the design of the data center of tomorrow. The book concludes with insights and predictions about how the latest trends in containers, hybrid cloud, open-source projects, non-volatile memory and the improving economics of flash will impact data centers over the coming years.

"Tech pros can no longer keep doing the same old thing and expect to thrive or even survive," said Stu Miniman, senior analyst and principal research contributor at Wikibon.com. "Building a Modern Data Center gives users detailed information that will assist in evaluating today's business challenges and enable the delivery of data-laced insights that actually help IT departments deliver more value to their organizations."

The 260-page Building a Modern Data Center is available in PDF for free from the Atlantis website and in Kindle eBook format ($2.99) from Amazon.com. Print copies ($9.99) will be available from Amazon next month.

What the Industry is Saying About Building a Modern Data Center

Chris Evans, Founder of Blog.Architecting.IT and Langton Blue, Ltd:

"This book explains how we arrived at the position where traditional methods couldn't scale any further. It highlights the important factors; financial, operational and technical that must be considered in evolving the delivery of IT for next-generation architectures. It is a must-read for anyone looking to keep ahead of the technology curve."

Dan Frith, Blogger at PenguinPunk.net:

"This book is an invaluable resource for both IT veterans and newcomers alike. It provides insight and context that are critical to understanding the hyperconverged data center landscape of today and tomorrow."

Bill Kleyman, Contributor to CBS Interactive and InformationWeek, and VP of Strategy and Innovation at MTM Technologies:

"In Building a Modern Data Center we learn the key trends that are influencing a new generation of data center technologies. This book does a phenomenal job of diving into the critical elements around cost, risk, complexity, and even business resiliency when it comes to a next-generation data center architecture."

David Marshall, Founder and Editor, VMblog.com:

"IT leaders have many technology choices beyond traditional storage for solving their business challenges. Building a Modern Data Center is a thoughtful discussion of the realities of software-based and hyperconverged-based IT strategies. It's a clearly written guide that every admin and CIO should read before making tough decisions about their IT budgets and operational models in years to come."

Theresa Miller, Founder of 24x7ITConnection.com, Co-host of Current Status:

"This book will take you on the journey of the past, present, and future to begin the technical thought process shift that is absolutely necessary for all businesses."

Dane Young, Virtualization Practice Manager at Entisys Solutions:

"Building a Modern Datacenter is a fantastic resource for practitioners and thought leaders of enterprise organizations embarking on the IT Transformation journey!"