Sponsored By

01Contents

02

03

04

That Was Then... This is Now

The InformationRevolution (willbe streamed)

Modern ITHurdles

The IT Road Ahead

Tech Flashback: Evolution of IT: 2000 vs. 2015Page 4

Introduction

IN THE YEAR 2000…

We dodged the Y2K global meltdown, a flip phone was a hip phone, and the biggest security threat of the day: the relatively innocuous I LOVE YOU virus (sounds cute, right?).

Back then, to watch your favorite rerun of Friends – the hottest TV show at the time – you had to get your hands on a DVD or VHS tape. And if you told some-one you were going to “Facebook” them, they probably thought you were about to smack them with an encyclopedia (remember those)? The times, they have changed!

In 2015, we live in an uber-convenient, 24/7, work-from-anywhere world of high-speed internet, social networks, and connected everything (i.e., internet-surfing TVs, watches, thermostats, light bulbs and refrigerators). Today you can quickly and easily stream thousands of shows instantly to your phone, computer, tablet, smart TV or video-game device.

Less convenient? Today’s malware doesn’t just delete a file here and there, it steals important secrets and holds them hostage for hundreds of dollars, as many companies learned the hard way in 2014 with Cryptolocker ransomware.

Over the last 15 years, tech advances haven’t been limited to the home; IT in the workplace has also evolved by leaps and bounds.

A new kind of IT pro…

Gone are the days of supporting one desktop per worker. Most IT pros today are keeping tabs on, managing, and securing two… three… even four or more devices for every employee.1 Server rooms used to house physical servers galore, but now you can cram dozens of virtual servers into a single high-powered box, saving tons of space and money, and making systems management a breeze.

Faster connectivity means that your running servers might even be hundreds of miles away, floating in the cloud.

The short of it: technology advances have radically changed our world and the way we work. How much has it changed? Time to hop into our virtual time machine for a techie flashback to the year 2000…

Faster connectivity means that your running servers might even be hundreds of miles away, floating in the cloud.

Chapter 01

Tech Flashback: Evolution of IT: 2000 vs. 2015Page 6

That Was Then... This is Now

A WORLD WITHOUT COOL, INTERNET-CONNECTED GIZMOS.

More raw computing power allows us to work more efficiently, create and consume more rich media, and get more done. These days, almost everyone has access to a powerful computer in their pocket. Back in the day, not so much. The average cheapo laptops of today are far more powerful than top-of-the-line hardware from 15 years ago. And your smartphone can hold its own pretty well, too (raise your hand if you think your 15-year-old computer can stream 1080p video. Anyone?).

As stellar computing power and high-speed internet has become commonplace in homes, people expect to be able to work remotely through VPN connections or even from their phones. Everyday users have more knowledge now with Google (or Jeeves, circa 2000) empowering them to at least try and fix their own computer issues. But this can be a mixed blessing for IT, as users often know only enough to be dangerous.

01

“Mobile devices have made more of an impact than people realize. Fifteen years ago we had the brick phones and flip phones that were just… phones. Now you can stream a movie, check your email, shoot pictures and video, and still make a call.” – Tim H., Network/Systems Administrator

“I think that connectivity has been the biggest change over the past 15 years. In 2000 very few people had a high-speed, always-on connection; now we have flipped and very few left are on dial-up connections.” – John F., IT Director

20002000 20152015vs.

Intel Pentium 4 1.5 GHz

CPU Mark score - 134

Intel Core i74790K – 4.0 GHzCPU Mark score - 11,25884x faster

30 GB HDD $125 ($4.17 per GB)

3 TB HDD $105 ($0.035 per GB)119x cheaper

$1,107 per GB

Nokia 331084 x 48 (1 color display)

No Wi-FiMakes calls

iPhone 6

1,334 x 750 (16M color display)802.11ac Wi-Fi – 300MbpsMakes calls, sends email, takes HD videos, has GPS, runs 3D games and much more.

MOST POPULAR CELL PHONE

COST OF RAM

COST OF STORAGE

COMPUTING POWER

$5.50 per GB201x cheaper

TECHNOLOGY

Tech Flashback: Evolution of IT: 2000 vs. 2015Page 8

The Information Revolution (will be streamed)

The year 2000 wasn’t quite the digital dark ages, but the Internet back then was a far cry from what we’re used to today. Why? It’s hard to imagine, but 15 years ago only three percent of US homes had broadband connections (like DSL, cable or satellite). Here’s a day in the life of dial-up:

1. You listen to your modem beep and screech for 30 seconds before connecting.

2. You twiddle your thumbs as Alta-Vista loads… one section of a page at a time.

3. While waiting for that song to download, you take a bathroom break. Movies? Forget it.

4. You browse as fast as you can. After all, you’re actually paying by the minute to be online!

Naturally, people spent less time surf-ing the web in 2000. And data just didn’t flow through the tubes of the Internet as freely as it does today. Also, businesses were among some of the only places with fast (but expensive) internet connections whether through cable or DSL, ISDN or T1 lines.

Flash forward to today: advances in connec-tivity and faster internet have ushered in the cloud era. File sharing, online collaboration, music streaming, and software-as-a-service finally make sense as internet bandwidth has increased – and more people have gained high-speed access from a wider variety of devices.

If you build it, they will come…

Now that the IT infrastructure is in place to allow us to move, process and store huge amounts of data quickly, we’re taking full advantage. At the same time, IT has had to support more remote users and crack down on offenders who clog up the tubes by using too much company bandwidth. Additionally, managing large amounts of data is a challenge for IT pros around the world. They must find ways to organize, back up, and secure ever-growing repositories of files that live within the network, on users’ devices, and out in the cloud.

02

“The biggest change I have noticed is how ‘technology’ and ‘always-on connectivity’ has allowed great things… but also eroded/invaded our personal lives, as [IT] is expected to always be available and connected at the drop of a text message. I don’t ever really feel like I’m completely off the clock.” – Matthew O., Network/Systems Administrator

20002000 20152015vs.

INFORMATION

INTERNET USERS WORLDWIDE

361M 2.8BDATA PRODUCED EACH YEAR

1.5 EXABYTES

5.6 ZETTABYTES

5.6 X 10

<

21 bytes3,733x increase

1.5 X 10

<

18 bytes

56 Kbps modem(Dial-up connection)

12 minutes to download 5 MB MP3

100 Mbps modem

(Broadband connection) 1 second to download 5 MB MP3

WIRELESS NETWORKING802.11b

11 Mbps12 minutes to transfer 1 GB

802.11ac1.7 Gbps

5 seconds to transfer 1 GB

DIAL-UP ADOPTION (US)

34% 2%

3% 70%

BROADBAND ADOPTION (US)

Tech Flashback: Evolution of IT: 2000 vs. 2015Page 10

ModernIT Hurdles

As tech prices have dropped like a rock, your average office worker has become more equipped and tech-savvy than ever. And as “digital natives” (who’ve never known life without computers) enter the workplace, they come with heightened expectations of the tools they can use. Because they have high-speed internet at home, access to cutting-edge consumer apps and social networks from anywhere, they want to do the same between the hours of 9 to 5 (or 11 to 7, or 8 to 11, or… you get the idea).

Today’s workforce is increasingly mobile. Workers expect anywhere-access to company resources so they can do real work from their couch, the train, or even the beach. All amazing from a productivity standpoint, but troubling from an IT secu-rity standpoint.

Speaking of security, hacking used to be something that curious geeks and bored teens did to pass the time (hello Hackers and War Games). There typically wasn’t malicious intent... mischievous hackers and virus authors were more interested in testing the online boundaries of what they could get away with.

These days, there’s a definite profit motive behind hacking. Malware is used by governments and organized crime to steal information or extort money from unwitting victims. For IT pros in 2015, corporate espionage is an alarming fact of life.

You did what!?

Cloud services have taken much of the complexity out of IT. All that’s necessary to set up a server in the cloud is a username, password and credit card. As a result, IT has lost some of its control over every single tech decision. And while on one hand, this can be a time saver, it also introduces risks – for example, when the finance guy decides to store confidential company info on the in-secure cloud-sharing service he set up, then expects IT to fix everything when it breaks or data gets compromised.

As technology has evolved – and other departments have become more involved in tech purchasing decisions – the role of the traditional IT pro has shifted.

It’s now less day-to-day, nuts-and-bolts operations and more of a “trusted-advisor” role, playing a bigger part in making business decisions. To adapt to these changes, IT pros should embrace their inner “people person,” engage and train other business departments on how to stay secure, and stay in touch with the needs and concerns of users. Why? So that IT can gain better oversight (if not total control) over data and tech resources and stay relevant going forward.

03

“The ability to run an entire company from hosted services is big.” – Adam A., IT Pro

20002000 20152015vs.

TECHNOLOGY DECISIONS MADE

ROLE OF IT

Almost exclusivelyby IT, for IT

Inside and outside of IT, with IT advising users and departments

1 or less45%of US IT pros support 2+ mobile devices per user

Almost no 68%

CLOUD SERVICESYou mean

those fluffy white things in the sky?

68%

OSES PER PHYSICAL MACHINE 1JustDouble digits (thanks to virtualization and powerful processors)

of companies use hosted or off premises server infrastructure that delivers IT as a service

VIRUS / MALWARE SAMPLES50Kever created

160K created each day

DEVICES PER USER

of companies support BYOD

companies supported BYOD

Tech Flashback: Evolution of IT: 2000 vs. 2015Page 12

The IT Road Ahead

While the obstacles IT pros face have grown over the last 15 years, technologies have emerged to ease the new challenges that have arisen. For example, a few technologies we take for granted that didn’t exist in 2000: USB 2.0 ports, fully connected devices that fit in the palm of your hand, modern server virtualization, ubiquitous cloud services – the list goes on and on.

Managing on-premises resources used to be an inefficient, mostly manual process where hardware resources often sat idle and configuration changes required lots of hands-on time. But virtualization and software-defined storage and networking have helped take the sting out of setting up networks. Also, intelligent automation and orchestration software has helped IT squeeze out more efficiency and ensure a higher degree of fault tolerance and re-dundancy from fewer physical machines. This has made it much easier to stand up and provision new servers, even with heterogeneous infrastructure. Even cloud services, which can be perceived as a pain, have made life easier for IT pros by freeing them up to do less day-to-day reactive hardware maintenance and more all-important, forward-facing, proactive planning.

While so much in the world of tech and IT has changed since 2000, some things stay the same. Throughout it all, there has been one constant, for better or worse:

Users have continued to provide solid job secu-rity for IT pros. Hey, someone’s got to remind them not to store passwords on sticky notes and bail them out of user-error related issues!

Another thing that hasn’t changed is change itself. Technology is always evolving… and fast. Any IT pro who stops learning is one who’s stuck in the past. You need to stay ahead of the curve and know about the latest challen- ges, technologies and solutions before you’re caught off guard or left behind. So, how can IT pros stay relevant today and into the future?

Here’s some advice as you travel warp speed ahead:

Stay up-to-date on the latest tech and security trends (for instance, don’t get zinged by the Internet of Things or caught out in the mobile storm…)

Adopt a people focus – don’t forget that IT’s role has always been to support users

Learn business skills and find ways to add value to your company

Educate your users and become their trusted advisor – not adversary

Following these tips can help ensure a happy IT career for the next 15 years… and beyond.

But wait, there’s more!

Discuss IT challenges and get tech advice from 6 million IT pros in Spiceworks. You can share career tips and learn how to keep your IT resume current by joining the conversation in the Spiceworks careers group.

Or stay up to date on the latest technology by checking out virtualization learning resources in Spiceworks!

04

CONTENT SOURCES:

1. http://www.spiceworks.com/voit/reports/weathering-the-mobile-storm/

INFOGRAPHIC SOURCES:

“Technology” Infographic (p. 7)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_mobile_phones#2014

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_operating_system

“Information” Infographic (p. 9)

http://dashboard.digitalinfo.org/trends/view/broadband

“The Role of IT” Infographic (p. 11)

http://www.spiceworks.com/voit/reports/weathering-the-mobile-storm/

http://www.spiceworks.com/marketing/state-of-it/report/#byod

http://www.cknow.com/cms/vtutor/number-of-viruses.html

http://mediacenter.pandasecurity.com/mediacenter/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Quarterly-Report-PandaLabs_Q3.pdf

SPONSORED BY:

About VMware

VMware is a leader in cloud infrastructure and business mobility. Built on VMware’s industry-leading virtualization technology, our solutions

deliver a brave new model of IT that is fluid, instant and more secure. Customers can innovate faster by rapidly developing, automatically

delivering and more safely consuming any application. With 2014 revenues of $6 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers and 75,000

partners. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices throughout the world and can be found online at www.vmware.com.

.About Spiceworks Spiceworks is the professional network 6 million IT professionals use to connect with one another and over 3,000 technology brands. The company simplifies how IT professionals discover, buy and manage more than $600 billion in technology products and services each year. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, Spiceworks is backed by Adams Street Partners, Austin Ventures, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), Goldman Sachs, Shasta Ventures and Tenaya Capital. For more information www.spiceworks.com

Follow Spiceworks on Twitter and connect with Spiceworks on Facebook.

PRODUCED BY:

Unless otherwise noted, the entire contents distributed as part of this report are copyrighted by Spiceworks. As such any information made available by any means in this report may not be copied, reproduced, duplicated, published, displayed, transmitted, distributed, given, sold, traded, resold, marketed, offered for sale, modified to create derivative works or otherwise exploited for valuable consideration without prior written consent by Spiceworks. For more information visit www.spiceworks.com/voice-of-it/terms.

This report contains information of fact relating to parties other than Spiceworks. Although the information has been obtained from, and is based on sources that Spiceworks believes to be reliable, Spiceworks does not guarantee the accuracy, and any such information might be incomplete or condensed. Any estimates included in this report constitute Spiceworks’ judgment as of the date of compilation, and are subject to change without notice. This report is for information purposes only. All responsibility for any interpretations or actions based on the information or commentary contained within this report lie solely with the recipient. All rights reserved. 2015.

Illustration design: Julian Hector | Typography layout and design: Clarice Bajkowski

Where IT goes to work.