Lessons From Wall Street's I&O Leaders: Three Ways To Boost Server Infrastructure Results

Forrester's recent interviews of I&O executives at top Wall Street firms yielded several counterintuitive insights. The most surprising? First, that tier two server vendors can now deliver the same level of reliability that you get from your tier one server vendors. And second, that integrated infrastructure offerings from suppliers like Cisco, HP, and VCE mostly live up to their hype, although customer willingness to deploy them varies widely. Our Wall Street interviewees also surfaced three best practices that all I&O heads can apply: 1) Reopen pricing negotiations with your server vendor if component prices fall; 2) look beyond the tier one server vendors; and 3) accept that integrated infrastructure offerings can deliver benefits that justify the vendor lock-in they require.