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Do you stick, twist, or fold? Or is there another option asks John Gotley of Portal
The trend over the last few years for companies and organisations to host their information and web services in secure, resilient purpose-built Data Centres has grown strongly and despite the current economic fears this trend is set to continue. However the latest market turmoil has left many organisations increasingly nervous about making long-term investments in data centre provisioning.
One option to a new build is to outsource, but for many relinquishing their business critical data, its ‘crown jewels’ if you like, into the hands of a third-party, regardless of their reputation, is considered an unacceptable risk. Consolidation is another alternative; however this also brings its own problems, such as choice of the best location, the demographics of the existing staff and the potential legacy of an empty unused facility.
The danger, therefore in these circumstances where there are so many unknowns to consider, is for companies to simply bury their heads in the sand and make no decision at all. But be warned, this route potentially carries the greatest risk of all.
In the good times, the best solution is to build a new facility, however, investing in a brand new data centre is of course a daunting prospect, especially when the property may have a write down of fifteen plus years, but your business planning horizon can only predict the next three years. Not only is it difficult to assess your needs further down the road, but the actual planning, design, building and delivery of a new data centre is an incredibly complex and very expensive process, requiring the seamless consideration and amalgamation of all the following elements:
Location
Location is crucial for Data Centres and extensive research of potential sites is required to ensure that high quality, resilient local connections are available for communications, electricity, water, gas, and sewage utilities. In addition, considerations such as the proximity of aircraft flight paths, main roads, chemical plants, research labs, rivers, coastlines, military bases or potential EMC threats from radar transmitters or mobile phone masts all need to be taken into account to reduce the business risk.
Design and build
Building a data centre is expensive and risky. Contractual delays, internal inertia and other factors can result in costs spiralling out of control. Once a commitment is made, however it is virtually impossible to pull out without having a serious impact on business development expectations.
Infrastructure
This can be a real juggling act as all the following factors have to be designed and delivered on-time and within budget.
• Electrical systems to and within the data centre;
• Power requirements and redundancy;
• Physical location;
• Physical sizing and capabilities (including future);
• Fire, detection, alarm and suppression;
• Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC);
• Communications cabling within and to the data centre;
• Cabling containment within the data centre,
• Equipment racks;
• IT designs of servers and networks;
• Security, Access and CCTV;
• Overall Project management
Not surprising then it’s easier to defer a decision than make one! However, there are now alternative approaches to data centre capacity management that can relieve an organisation of this burden and deliver a ‘turn-key’ solution within their manageable business cycles.
For example as part of our ‘Occupier Solutions’ model we have partnered with specialist organisations, combining complementary expertise, to provide businesses with just such a solution for low risk data centre accommodation. This solution delivers, not only the data centre building, but also all of the internal infrastructure and the specialised consultancy required for a ‘state of the art’ facility. The unique factor to this approach is that it is delivered on an operational rather than a capital basis.
The beauty of this type of solution is that unlike an outsourcing contract or an in-house capital build, this approach enables organisations to commission a data centre, designed and built to their own specification and in a location of their choice on a commitment that is more in tune with their foreseeable business plans. Furthermore the centre will be delivered within the agreed timescale.
At the end of the contract options then exist to continue, expand or they can simply hand the keys back and walk away with no exit costs, dilapidation or legal fees. In addition this solution allows an organisation to retain ownership of the valuable parts of their business, such as, their people, culture, processes, applications, and intellectual capital.
The current economic climate in which data centres work is more volatile than ever. Unfortunately, this leads to uncertainty, indecision and ultimately stagnation in the business’s potential for future growth. However, options do exist that can mitigate and share this risk, accommodate unforeseen change, and enable organisations to gain the data centre capacity they need today, without worrying about what might happen tomorrow.
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