One Unifying Infrastructure. Any application. · enterprise IT environments. Recent customer surveys show that over 90% of enterprise IT organizations are planning to implement hybrid

Hybrid IT architectures are rapidly becoming the favored approach for next-generation enterprise IT environments. Recent customer surveys show that over 90% of enterprise IT

organizations are planning to implement hybrid IT strategies over the next few years. The concept of hybrid IT reflects the reality that IT organizations have a large number of traditional, stateful, “scale-up” applications and data that remain strategic, while also pursuing new agile, stateless, “scale-out” application models to be more responsive to business needs.

Gartner describes this as “Bi-modal IT,” and predicts that by 2017, 75% of IT organizations will have a “bimodal capability” in place. But to successfully implement a Bi-modal IT architecture, there are a number questions to consider, regarding where different types of workloads should run, how these new application models will be developed and what is the appropriate infrastructure to enable them, what tools are needed to manage these environments, and where data should be stored for ready access.

WelcomeAt Red Hat, we believe true hybrid IT enables development models for various workloads that utilize the best approach to address the business problem—rather than being forced into a single model—and are deployed on their natural, optimal footprints: from bare-metal servers, to classic scale-up virtualization, to Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) or Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) on either private or hybrid public clouds. It is clear that no single platform can successfully handle all types of workloads at scale. Consequently, it is flexible, interoperable, optimized Linux®-based platform choices, coupled with application enablement optimized for various workload types, sharing common management and storage across all footprints, that is the key to successful hybrid IT.

As you consider plans for developing and delivering a hybrid IT environment, I invite you to consider Red Hat’s vision for an open hybrid IT architecture at redhat.com/infrastructure, and learn about how Red Hat, as the open source leader, is uniquely positioned to help you realize bi-modal IT capabilities.

Tim Yeaton Senior vice president, Infrastructure Business

1Welcome

3From the Gartner Files: Predicts 2015: Bimodal IT Is a Critical Capability for CIOs

6From the Red Hat Files: The Frictionless IT Architecture for All Your Workloads

8About Red Hat

Featuring research from

One Unifying Infrastructure. Any application.

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RecommendationsCIOs and leaders of digital transformation programs:

• Ensure that both modes work toward aligned priorities and have an open and collaborative style of working together.

• Commit to all elements of the second, more exploratory iterative mode, and not attempt a pick-and-mix approach.

• Educate and coach business leaders about the need to address technical debt and the concomitant impact on refactoring.

• Renovate core applications to make them digitally ready — configurable, flexible and nonmonolithic.

• Don’t wait. Start to become bimodal right away.

Strategic Planning AssumptionBy 2017, 75% of IT organizations will have a bimodal capability. Half will make a mess.

Analysis

What You Need to KnowBased on our 2014 CIO survey, around 45% of organizations claim to have some form of bimodal capability today. Based on the level of pent-up demand for this style of approach, and the level of interest and activity we see through interactions with clients, we anticipate growth to at least three out of four enterprises. The proportion of enterprises

Digital transformation demands that businesses be more agile, manage uncertainty and deliver solid reliability. CIOs can meet this challenge by using a bimodal approach to managing IT, reducing time-to-market and more-effectively aligning IT’s activities with the dynamics of a digital business.

Key Findings• Bimodal is a critical capability that

combines the rock-solid conventional capabilities of IT alongside a capability to respond to the level of uncertainty and the need for agility required for a digital transformation.

• Becoming bimodal isn’t free. Implemented incorrectly or incompletely, CIOs can create a mess, destroying more value than they create.

• The risks notwithstanding, becoming bimodal is not just a nice-to-have capability. CIOs must become bimodal to be able to manage uncertainty and create the agility necessary for digital transformation.

• If IT doesn’t act, internal shadow IT or an external move by a competitor will fill the void.

• Key capabilities that underpin a mature bimodal capability include a differentiated approach to investment management, governance, software development, sourcing, innovation management, intermodal collaboration, DevOps, automation and others.

that will have developed a mature and broad-based approach, embracing and integrating multiple capabilities that could include iterative methods, adaptive sourcing, innovation management, continuous delivery, DevOps, among others will be growing, but significantly fewer.

Going faster by taking short cuts is not a problem for most IT organizations and the businesses they support, but doing it sustainably, and in areas of the business where it will make a significant difference, is a challenge. The lessons learned from earlier forays into rapid application development back in the 1990s were painful, expensive and should not be repeated.

Bimodal IT refers to having two modes of IT, each designed to develop and deliver information- and technology-intensive services in its own way.

• Mode 1 is traditional, emphasizing scalability, efficiency, safety and accuracy.

• Mode 2 is nonsequential, emphasizing agility and speed.

Each mode has all the people, resources, partners, structure, culture, methodologies, governance, metrics and attitudes toward value and risk that its operation requires. New investments are deployed through one of the two modes, depending on the balance of needs. When the balance changes, existing investments and operations move between the two modes. The most mature version of Mode 2,

From the Gartner Files:

Predicts 2015: Bimodal IT Is a Critical Capability for CIOs

One Unifying Infrastructure. Any application. is published by Red Hat. Editorial content supplied by Red Hat is independent of Gartner analysis. All Gartner research is used with Gartner’s permission, and was originally published as part of Gartner’s syndicated research service available to all entitled Gartner clients. © 2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. The use of Gartner research in this publication does not indicate Gartner’s endorsement of Red Hat’s products and/or strategies. Reproduction or distribution of this publication in any form without Gartner’s prior written permission is forbidden. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Gartner disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information. The opinions expressed herein are subject to change without notice. Although Gartner research may include a discussion of related legal issues, Gartner does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Gartner is a public company, and its shareholders may include firms and funds that have financial interests in entities covered in Gartner research. Gartner’s Board of Directors may include senior managers of these firms or funds. Gartner research is produced independently by its research organization without input or influence from these firms, funds or their managers. For further information on the independence and integrity of Gartner research, see “Guiding Principles on Independence and Objectivity” on its website, http://www.gartner.com/technology/about/ombudsman/omb_guide2.jsp.

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Enterprise Bimodal, is not just about the IT organization; it encompasses a fast, agile mode of doing business. The second mode frequently employs many of the principles adopted by Lean Startup.

The risks to make a mess with bimodal IT are substantial. By which we mean creating organizational, architectural, technical or process damage or dysfunction that will come with a high price to mitigate at some point in the future. Success is contingent on a disciplined approach to project selection, funding, iterative development, operation, deployment and leverage within the business. Bimodal IT requires more rigor, not less.

Bimodal IT is not a nice-to-have for digital transformation, it is essential for any organization faced with the uncertainties and change cycles of the digital transformation. It is important for IT organizations to begin developing the key capabilities that underpin bimodal and to learn the behavioral competencies required to make it work. Training and education must be done, particularly around the iterative methods, processes and governance that need adapting. But there is much that is simply experiential and cultural. As such, we recommend CIOs not get stuck using Mode 1 planning to initiate the Mode 2 capability. To begin, we recommend that CIOs pick one or two projects and get started, using them to begin the learning process. Start with projects that require one or two of the key underpinning capabilities mentioned here. There is no single right place to start. There are some important considerations in those early projects.

Strategic Planning AssumptionStrategic Planning Assumption: By 2017, 75% of IT organizations will have a bimodal capability, half will make a mess.

Analysis by: Simon Mingay, Mary Mesaglio

Key Findings:

The most common ways CIOs make a mess doing bimodal are:

• Failing to synchronize the two modes.

• Both modes need to be working with aligned priorities. This ensures that as and when a transition is required between the modes, or when there is a requirement for interdependency, both modes agree that what is being worked on is of importance to both. Such integrated governance over both modes is important.

• Both modes need to be working in a transparent, open and collaborative style, ensuring that both are aware of what is in the project pipeline. This aids planning for technology transitions, as well as the ongoing synchronization of activities.

• Getting stuck in the “timid” middle.

• Iterative development methods such as agile and lean are not pick-and-mix methodologies, so engage with all the elements of the chosen method. Iterative methods can look intimidating to CIOs and development managers accustomed to a waterfall approach, but the timid middle in which the organization attempts to do two-week waterfalls, or use traditional project management methods, do not achieve the best of both worlds. Quite the opposite. Many of the hybrid methods fail because they rely on establishing

the system requirements upfront. The attempt to lock down requirements over a series of iterations must be avoided. Requirements need to be revisited over the life of the project or product effort. In hybrids, some of the tasks sometimes are dealt with in a time-sequenced manner, while others are performed in a true agile manner. Although this may be successful on a single project, it’s not recommended as long-term strategy.

• While a full commitment to an iterative method is needed, a cautious and developmental approach to choosing projects also is needed. It is important that organizations choose projects based on their impact on the conventional Mode 1 organization, starting with “island” projects that have minimal synchronization needs, and slowly building up as they mature. The necessary skills to use iterative methods are in short supply, let alone the capabilities to synchronize two modes.

• Failing to maintain a disciplined focus on refactoring and managing technical debt (see Note 1).

• The nature of iterative methods, such as agile, is that they create technical debt. That’s not a problem, so long as the organization has a laser focus on managing it, and refactoring as and when appropriate.

• Failing to renovate the IT core.

• Bimodal is about developing a capability to better manage uncertainty and to enable the agility needed for a digital world. However, for it to develop beyond tactical projects into an enterprise bimodal capability, it is dependent on a digitally enabled core.

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Market Implications:

As mentioned, greater than 45% of IT organizations have some form of bimodal capability; however, the second mode usually is constrained to a singular capability, such as an approach to iterative application development, most commonly agile, or perhaps an approach to adaptive sourcing. It is often treated tactically as way of getting through the project backlog more quickly, rather than it being a way to innovate, manage uncertainty, and enable digital and enterprise transformation. The ability to synchronize the modes tends to be very patchy.

We are seeing a huge growth in organizations adopting bimodal approaches, and the more-advanced are evolving that to an enterprise capability. That will combine multiple capabilities that could include:

• Iterative development methods.

• Adaptive sourcing.

• Innovation management.

• Continuous delivery.

• DevOps.

• Automation.

• Adapting governance processes, such as investment approval, project selection and funding.

• The business’s ability to deploy and exploit the agility and cycle of change.

Bimodal enables the enterprise to deliver the rock-solid core, while creating new value and competing by leveraging its agility and improved ability to manage risk. This growth will result in approximately 75% of enterprises developing some kind of bimodal capability by 2017.

However, with half failing to mitigate the risks or address the critical success factors appropriately, we would fully expect a backlash in which bimodal IT, adaptive sourcing, innovation and iterative methods are blamed for many project and change program failures.

Recommendations:

CIOs and leaders of digital transformation programs:

• Ensure that both modes work to aligned priorities, and have an open and collaborative style of working together.

• Commit to all elements of the second, more exploratory iterative mode, and not attempt a pick-and-mix approach.

• Educate and coach business leaders about the need to address technical debt and the concomitant impact on refactoring.

• Renovate core applications to make them digitally ready — configurable, flexible and nonmonolithic.

• Don’t wait. Start to become bimodal right away.

A Look BackIn response to your requests, we are taking a look back at some key predictions from previous years. We have intentionally selected predictions from opposite ends of the scale — one where we were wholly or largely on target, as well as one we missed.

On Target: 2014 Prediction — By 2015, 30% of enterprises will focus their optimization efforts on IT and business value, rather than just IT costs.

Analysis by: Simon Mingay

We have turned the corner in terms of IT cost cutting, with organizations increasingly looking at the efficiencies and opportunities that digitalization brings to their value chains and business models. IT budgets are showing a modest growth. Our CEO survey shows business growth is firmly to the foreground. Major macroeconomic fears have abated, and CEOs are displaying their highest level of interest in IT for a decade.

Missed: 2014 Prediction — By 2015, adoption of IT Optimization 360 techniques will lead to the development of IT key metrics comparing business value outcomes.

Analysis By: Simon Mingay

We remain very confident that project value cases, performance criteria and postchange benefits realization analysis are increasingly focusing in on real business outcomes. However, by year-end 2014, we will still have a way to go. There are not yet broadly used, industry-standard IT key metrics to compare value outcomes.

Data from the most recent CIO survey supports this. For project value metrics, strategic value is used by 71% of the surveyed CIOs, and ROI by 68%, to prioritize investments. Those numbers drop, however, to 25% and 35% for those who monitor those metrics during execution and postimplementation (see Figure 1).

IT executives often struggle to move to “business value” outcomes as a measure of IT success because business leaders are often unable to articulate what those value metrics are. However, we advise CIOs not to wait to be told what to measure, and to proactively work with enterprise stakeholders to develop business value outcomes (see Figure 2).

The fact that just over 40% of organizations are engaging in some level of good formal benefits realization practice is great progress.

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FIGURE 1How Organizations Use Metrics for IT-Intensive Projects

FIGURE 2Most Common Approaches to Harvesting Benefits From Most Significant IT-Intensive Projects and Investments

Source: Gartner (November 2014)

Source: Gartner (November 2014)

Note 1. “Technical Debt” Defined

In 1992, Ward Cunningham drew a comparison between financial debt and all the “not quite right” code in a software solution (IT debt). The metaphor is appropriate, because there is an ongoing cost associated with this debt, much like interest payments on a financial debt. This “interest” is paid each time a modification to the code takes more time than it should because the code is less than ideal. As with financial debt, repaying technical debt can be deferred, but there comes a point where the solution has so much debt that it needs to be reimplemented. A policy of avoiding, tracking and fixing technical debt will increase the viable life span of a software solution. IT organizations may have many forms of debt. Technical debt is a subset of IT debt. Gartner defines technical debt as the portion of IT debt that is created by the development organization that must be fixed by the development organization.

Source: Gartner Research G00271840, Note Simon Mingay, Mary Mesaglio,

18 November 2014

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If you consider things from a workload perspective, most of today’s IT workloads are stateful. They scale up within a single operating system image. They’re usually organized around a database and they tend to live on bare metal servers or traditional virtualization platforms.

But it would be wrong to denigrate such applications as “legacy,” with the implication that they’re destined for obsolescence. In fact, in many cases they’re some of the most strategic applications in your environment. They just don’t lend themselves to a cloud-native application model, which is made up of many scale-out and stateless instances that are individually disposable.

True hybrid IT requires that workloads are deployed on each’s individual optimal footprint. That could be anything from single-server bare metal, to classic scale-up virtualization, to IaaS or PaaS private clouds or hybrid clouds—including public clouds. What it doesn’t mean is creating a singular environment that (unsuccessfully) attempts to handle all types of workloads or separate IT infrastructures that don’t communicate.

From the Red Hat Files:

The Frictionless IT Architecture for All Your Workloads

To meet all these requirements, you need three key things:

• Mission-critical footprints, optimized to different workloads.

• Next-generation cloud management that’s aware of both classic workloads and cloud-native ones and can effectively manage across both.

• Common storage and application enablement.

Let’s discuss these further:

1. Mission-critical footprints. Red Hat® Enterprise Linux is the basis of every one of our footprints, building off years of investment in mission-critical support of applications and ecosystems. And that’s true whether we’re talking physical servers, virtualization platforms, or internally- or externally-hosted OpenStack® and other public cloud infrastructures. This is an important point, because while physical servers and traditional virtualization platforms will continue to be important, OpenStack is becoming the de facto choice for customers as they build out flexible cloud infrastructure which requires certification and mission-critical support for a long life cycle from vendors. Similarly, common storage is important across the four footprints, allowing for a single name space to be used in traditional or a cloud-native workloads, within the firewall or outside of the firewall.

2. Next-generation cloud management. Consider a management platform that can understand both traditional and new workloads; can understand how their underlying infrastructures behave; and can provision, support, manage, and monitor applications across hybrid IT. It should be able to span all four footprints, understanding the heterogeneous workload types inside and outside the firewall, and manage them effectively from a unifying point of control, underscoring the importance of interoperability.

3. Common storage and application enablement. As OpenStack goes mainstream and enables software-defined everything, you will see common application enablement across workload types. For traditional workloads, customers are looking to modernize and extend those to the cloud—at least for the tiers of applications that can take advantage of scale-out capabilities in the cloud. This requires common middleware and common application enablement, which ultimately comes in the form of IaaS and PaaS working together—with PaaS enabling DevOps practices.

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FIGURE 1Red Hat’s open, hybrid IT vision

Source: Red Hat

In the longer term, we see containers and microservice-based applications built on containers as driving the cloud-native application paradigm. Containers are a very elegant model for both modernizing existing applications and workloads (especially in the web tier) and for natively building cloud-aware applications. Expect to see microservice-based application models that enable multiple container applications sharing components from various managed and certified sources.

Mission-critical footprints plus cloud-native infrastructure. Unified cloud management. Common application enablement and storage. You need all these to support the reality of hybrid IT.

Source: Red Hat

True hybrid IT requires a focus on—and enablement for: any workload type, supported on its own natural footprint, with cloud management that can effectively manage across heterogeneous classic and cloud-na-tive workloads, and common storage and application enablement. Eventually, microservice-based applica-tions built on containers will drive the cloud-native paradigm.

Learn more about Red Hat’s vision for true hybrid IT in our on demand webinar: redhat.com/infrastructure

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Red Hat was founded in 1993 and is headquartered in Raleigh, NC. Today, with more than 60 offices around the world, Red Hat is the largest publicly traded technology company fully committed to open source. That commitment has paid off over time, for us and our customers, proving the value of open source software and establishing a viable business model built around the open source way.

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