DCN December 2016 | Page 16

modular systems MADE TO MEASURE Clive Partridge of Rittal discusses the benefits of modular data centres and why making the switch to a modular facility doesn’t necessarily mean disruption. T here are four primary forces that, it is widely believed, will shape IT over the next few years: C  loud – public/private/hybrid M  obility – various devices/remote access/bring-your-own-device B  ig Data – analytics Internet of Things (IoT) – machinegenerated data/communication 16 Clearly, cloud has been an important buzzword in the industry for a while to the point where the question is not if cloud will be adopted but what type of solution is chosen; public (via a service provider/hoster), private (in-house or hosted), or hybrid (both types or several clouds combined). Cloud can provide companies with greater agility, flexibility in scaling and resource allocation, as well as substantial cost savings, but there is still a concern about placing sensitive data into the public cloud because of the potential for data loss, theft and even government snooping. What’s more, many businesses see having an in-house data centre as important because service reliability and data availability continue to be high priorities. While many data centres are very similar, when it comes