INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Data Centres
“One factor constraining data centre
growth is that computing power is
growing massively but the hardware is
shrinking, so users now take up a fraction
of the rack space they previously used.”
In fact, this trend is indicative of
the evolution we are seeing in data
centre use. Organisations are moving
operations into distributed data centres
that are closer to the edge of the
network and closer to the client. Their
goal is to lower costs of transport and
increase the reliability of their services.
Service providers may use a number
of data centres for failover. Indeed,
many ISPs offer this as a benefit to their
customers. However, in Africa, there
are only a few large vendor-neutral
data centres. One factor constraining
data centre growth is that computing
power is growing massively but the
hardware is shrinking, so users now take
up a fraction of the rack space they
previously used.
users – there is a similar cost benefit.
They can pay-per-use and scale use
of virtualised compute and storage
resources as needed. Users opting for a
cloud solution should be wary, however.
Despite growing uptake, cloud-based
data centres may not always be the
best choice for very high-speed, high
bandwidth and latency-sensitive
applications as the operational costs
associated with the data transport to
and from such data centres can become
expensive, and prohibitively long delay
times may impact service. Before
signing up, users should investigate
the reliability, speed, capacity and cost
guarantees that cloud data centre
providers can deliver, and put in place
SLAs to ensure that delivery.
Which data centre is best for
your business?
If you are wondering which data centre
would best suit your business, here are
some key questions to ask:
• What are my security requirements,
and how am I able to address
data breaches?
• Who are my customers? What services
do they require?
• Does my business rely on other
providers of IT services?
• What level does my company
compete on – infrastructure,
services, applications?
For many organisations, there is no
single answer. Many firms chose a
combination of the three types of
data centres for different reasons and
different services. What’s clear, however,
is that making the right strategic choices
can offer considerable advantage. n
In the EU and elsewhere globally, there
is consolidation as larger vendor-neutral
players invest in acquisition of smaller
players to provide distributed services.
In the EU, specialised data centres
serving specific industry sectors are also
emerging. For example, data centres for
the financial services community may
offer specific security features required
by regulators. Offering such specialised
services may well provide local data
centres – and their clients – with an
advantage in future.
And about cloud-based
computing . . .
The benefit of a cloud data centre
is that it allows software vendors, IT
service providers and ISPs to offer
modern day IT services and application
solutions without the capex investment
in infrastructure and operational
structures – these organisations simply
make use of existing infrastructure,
often owned by vendor-neutral data
centre providers. For cloud providers’
clients – individual, SME and enterprise
www.intelligentcio.com
Eckart Zollner, Head of Business Development, the Jasco Group
INTELLIGENTCIO
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