modular systems
KEYS TO THE FUTURE
Forget a turnkey approach , modular data centres unlock real innovation . Lex Coors of Interxion explains why an adjustable design philosophy is crucial to the future of IT innovation .
The pace of digital innovation has never been faster . We ’ re now hurtling towards a world where mobile connections outnumber people , billions of smart devices dominate the Internet and machine learning transforms entire industries . The opportunities are unprecedented .
The data centre is the key to unlocking this digital potential , enabling all the connectivity , processing and storage we depend on day-to-day . However , to support this fast moving digital economy , data centres need the agility to flex with new innovations and unpredictable demand .
Traditional data centre deployments are anything but agile . Major capital investment , extensive construction and huge logistic hurdles are the norm when setting up any new facility . Facing the need to build 11 data centres across Europe in the late 1990s , Interxion pioneered a new approach to meet these challenges : Modular data centres . By supporting phased infrastructure roll outs that seamlessly increase capacity , this design philosophy meant we could regularly adapt to new demands without disrupting our existing services .
By designing facilities to support a high capacity per square meter , but initially only implementing a low load , this scalable approach reduces total cost of ownership and overall deployment time , while allowing firms to adapt their data centre strategy in response to changing business needs . It ’ s a design philosophy that has only become more important in the last two decades , as successive waves of disruptive innovation have washed across the digital world .
Ahead in the cloud The cloud is certainly one such wave of disruption ; in fact , it ’ s now making every CIO rethink their approach to IT infrastructure . Overengineered , on-premise IT is looking increasingly costly and cumbersome in comparison to nimble service based offerings from industry heavyweights like Microsoft Azure , Amazon Web Services and IBM SoftLayer .
However , most companies still can ’ t rely entirely on the public cloud due to the need to safeguard sensitive data , adhere to compliance requirements , or ensure the application performance their customers demand . That ’ s why hybrid approaches to IT – combining the security and performance of on-premise facilities with the public cloud ’ s agility and cost savings – have become increasingly common .
In an IT environment redefined by the cloud , modular data centres have proven to be vital to the growing success of colocation providers . By taking a modular approach to design and build , colocation facilities have ensured they can rapidly respond to market demand and act as magnets for communities of interest during the cloud revolution , while right-sizing IT infrastructure to keep tight control over costs .
Carrier neutral facilities enticed in high density , high capacity cloud players by offering a flexible platform that can support their critical infrastructure and adjust to accelerating demand , while also enabling simple interconnectivity with a host of major networks from a single location .
Despite this easy access to connectivity , cloud providers balked at leaving customers at the mercy of the public Internet ’ s performance and security issues for long . To address these concerns , they now offer private connection services , such as Microsoft ExpressRoute and AWS Direct Access .
Once again , colocation providers were able to take advantage of this emerging trend . As enterprises and service providers rushed to adopt
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