Storage systems provider, Brocade and the analyst firm, Frost & Sullivan joined Enterprise Innovation in hosting a group of CIOs for an exclusive high level session on how global leaders are using virtualization and Cloud to create dynamic IT infrastructures.

The main theme was to help determine a path towards a real-time infrastructure - something many CIOs strive for, but welcome direction on how to achieve it within time and budgetary constraints.

John McHugh, CMO of Brocade, began the event by saying that his firm's networking strategy is aimed at helping organizations evolve to a highly virtualized, services-on demand state through a smooth migration process and simplified technology architecture. Part of this simplification, he said, included strategies that allow enterprises to combine servers, regardless of original vendor, into a single unified network that can enable IT to operate in real-time.

Hype versus reality

But, cautioned McHugh, "Be slow, be patient. The hype may not live up to reality...sometimes you must let the technology mature."

He recounted a process at a previous company which decided to move their manufacturing from Silicon Valley to a Singapore facility in 1988. "A similar process is happening today," said McHugh, "as tech workers will transform to higher value jobs."

This isn't a linear process, noted McHugh, "some products and technology are suitable for outsourcing, some are not, and it's the same with data centers and virtualization."