What makes a good datacenter?

Data Center technology is advancing at a pace hard to keep up so it is important for companies to really focus on the technology they want to deliver in order to have the best Data Center possible. Of course, this will vary in terms of specialization, not every DC has the same needs and requirements.

The aim of this article is to provide a more generalized view of what makes a data center a good one. Quick heads up, balance is key.

Location:

          We find three different options; each one has its strengths and weaknesses. Having your own DC leaves you with only two of those options. You can either have it locally at your business building or buy land at a further location and place it there. The first one comes with the possibility of lack of space which can end limiting the scalability of your DC. If you place it somewhere else, you have to take into consideration that the IT team has to be allocated there or be able to move quickly. The last option is having a public cloud service.

Reliability:

          Servers and the rest of the equipment inside a data center tend to generate massive amounts of heat so if your cooling system or the power supply is not consistent enough this can result in a lack of performance. This is not the best aspect to save money in.

Security:

          The most important thing to understand is that physical security is as important as cyber security. Having a super powerful firewalling service but poor access security can result in even worse repercussions. A thoroughly studied investment in surveillance and infrastructure protection should be made.

Service Capacity:

          If you have a private data center, you must do a previous study on the amount of bandwidth your users will consume. Having a downtime because of excessive requests is both diminishing for your public image and an easy blank for DoS and DDoS attacks.

Flexibility & Scalability:

          If you are trying to provide service for a long period of time and you have a perspective of growth, the data center designed today must be based on that as well. If you have intentions of keeping your data center updated and with the latest technologies, it should be ready for them from day one.

Emergency Backup:

          Having a data loss catastrophe in your data center will result in money loss and market opportunity loss as well. Being ready for any kind of inconvenience or major malfunction is key to keeping your data safe. Having an emergency backup, redundancy storage and regularly checking it’s integrity will help your data center provide a better service for the users.

Reputation:

          Last but not least, being considered a trustworthy company is even more important than actually being one. The public opinion on your service delivery and resilience, having a strong marketing strategy for your data center service and making sure the whole public knows about your successes will bring future opportunities to your company.

All these general bullet points are intended to give a broader perspective on what makes a data center desirable for customers. Depending on what kind of service you want to deliver, finding the best balance will be determining. The choice is yours.