Top Five Attributes Of A Successful Data Center

Buying a new pair of jeans may be stressful for some, but it’s most likely not a decision that will have a long-term life impact. Purchasing a new home, however, typically involves in-depth research and strategic selection.

Similarly, investing in IT infrastructure takes careful consideration, planning and research to ensure you make the right choice. It’s imperative to select a data center that offers a comprehensive suite of solutions that grows with your business, delivers unparalleled customer service and augments traditional colocation offerings with a hybrid mix of cloud, network and managed hosting solutions over advanced networks.

Before you make your selection, keep the below five characteristics that make up a successful data center in mind:

Efficiency in Space and Capacity Planning

The best data centers are designed to achieve optimal density – they use virtualization technology to offer the most compute, storage and networking power with the smallest footprint. By increasing the number of servers per rack, data centers can decrease the number of racks and power circuits to reduce capital expenses and improve utilization of existing hardware. Along with server consolidation, facilities with small building blocks that can further be divided into smaller blocks for higher fragmentation allow for added space for scalability.

Scalability/Flexibility

Scalability is essential in many industries, and IT is no different. Data centers must provide a flexible infrastructure that has the capability to seamlessly support simple and quick upgrades and sustain a rapid growth in performance. They should offer modular systems which let businesses conveniently address and adapt to growth and other changing business conditions, especially those that are unanticipated, without major disruptions. Also, by including on-demand infrastructure services that make it simple to create and scale applications, businesses can easily meet common enterprise requirements for security, governance and data sovereignty.

Cooling Efficiency

The correct cooling infrastructure can make a big difference in a data center’s energy efficiency. Though a variety of methods are used in data centers across the world, hot aisle/cold aisle architecture reduces energy consumption for cooling, provides the ability to pack equipment together more densely and increases the life of components in racks by assuring inlet air temperatures are within ASHRAE standards.

Documentation, Planning and Procedures

Successful data centers have well-documented methods and procedures along with activity monitoring and controls to assure policies are followed. Aside from direct observation via live data center tours, this is displayed through the center’s emphasis on training, communication, collaboration and continuous improvement. For example, check to see if the data center is  certified by The Uptime Institute for their adherence to its management and operational standards.  The Management & Operations (M&O) Stamp of Approval measures operational effectiveness to determine quality of service, mitigate risk and improve performance across data centers.

Information should be readily accessible, well-organized and available in any situation to data center employees. Policies and procedures aren’t beneficial if they’re not followed, so an organization of experienced and well-trained staff with a commitment to rigorous adherence to standards and methods is essential.

Security

Well-documented methods and procedures also play a role in ensuring the multi-level security of mission-critical facilities by preventing unauthorized access. The most secure data centers have ballistic building construction, perimeter protection, adaptable design with secure cabinets or caged environments and other multi-tier access control measures including mantraps, keycards, biometrics, 24/7 monitoring of security and video surveillance with adequate archiving.

Consider Colocation

Deciding on a data center for your business needs isn’t a decision to be made lightly, so take time to examine what facilities meet the characteristics mentioned above. Consider how colocation enables you to save the cost, time and hassle of an on premise data center that requires constant maintenance, power and cooling to support your IT equipment. Investing in the right IT infrastructure allows you to derive the benefits of your investment while focusing on what matters most: your business.