HP Foresees 'Lights Out' Data Centers

Will the data center of the future have no tech staff on site? That's the vision put forth by Hewlett-Packard CIO Randall Mott at an industry conference in California earlier this week. Here's a summary from a ComputerWorld article:

That's a ton of consolidation, illustrating the impact server consolidation can have on a company's data center footprint. Having noted that, not all attendees were on board with Mott's vision, which is the facilities version of the "neutron bomb" strategy - leave the buildings standing, but wipe out all the employees inside.

Sure, it sounds great from a cost perspective. But there are skeptics, who were also quoted in the ComputerWorld article. "I don't believe in lights-out data centers. I believe in dim lights," said Oliver Schmid, manager of information systems at Alfred Karcher Inc. IT facilities will still need operations workers with versatile talents - "people who know a little bit of everything," he said.

For more on Mott's vision for HP's data center operations, there's a separate Q&A with details.