“
THERE ARE TWO
MAIN FACTORS
DRIVING THE
TRANSITION TO
COLOCATION
WHEN THE TIME IS
RIGHT – DEMAND
FOR HIGH-
AVAILABILITY
SERVICES AND
THE SHRINKING IT
TALENT POOL.
www.intelligentcio.com
this growth? Although organisations of all
sizes will continue to squeeze all possible
value out of their existing investment in
on-premise IT, there are two main factors
driving the transition to colocation when
the time is right – demand for high-
availability services and the shrinking IT
talent pool.
The data centre talent pool
As the volume of data to be stored and
processed has exploded, so has the level of
complexity of networking and connectivity
tools. As a result, colocation data centre
solution providers have opened new streams
of revenue through value-added offerings
– such as skilled managed IT services,
Internet solutions and interconnection
services based on enterprise requirements.
Depending on the colocation solutions
contracted, support staff can provide
comprehensive technical, administrative
and engineering help to ensure the smooth
running of an enterprise’s data centre on a
day-to-day basis.
Organisations are realising that having in-
house, skilled workers capable of delivering
the level of data centre management and
maintenance required for high-availability
services is not sustainable. According to
technology skills and education provider,
CNet Training, for many years, parochial
data centre recruitment and a lack of clarity
from the school level onwards on the career
path towards data centre management
have caused the talent pool for skilled
workers to shrink.
When it comes to recruitment, it is becoming
apparent that if the mountain will not come
to the organisation, then the organisation
must go to the mountain. The data centre
talent pool simply is not large enough for
organisations to recruit in-house skilled
workers. Simultaneously, data centre
colocation facilities are naturally more
attractive to prospective IT talent as a result
of the diversity of systems, needs and tools
housed there – providing a more promising
career development path for staff than that
which is ostensibly offered working in-house.
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