FEATURE: DATA CENTRES
C
ompanies can either choose
to build, buy or look at data
centre colocation. In building
or buying data centres, technology
advancements brings along its own
set of complexities and challenges
for businesses to architect and
manage their IT infrastructure. They
must make informed, analysed and
strategic decisions to either own or
outsource their data centres to suit
their individual needs.
Larger companies are financially
capable of building their own data
centres and are able to support them
with 24/7 professional technical
staff who maintain the infrastructure
and monitor the data. They allocate
large budgets to ensure that their
data centres are powered and cooled
efficiently to reap the benefits of the
facility. Building a data centre has its
advantages with the knowledge that
the company has incorporated strict
security guidelines and measures and
also, that, they are in total control of
their data.
Company growth has a direct impact
on the rate of data growth and
thereby pushes the capabilities of the
data centres. Therefore, organisations
must be prepared to face the
challenges of determining the right
size of the data centre which has
to meet the current needs but must
also be able to address the future
requirements.
For example, should an organisation
foresee their data centre requirements
over the next five years and build a
suitable facility, in the first instance;
initially the data centre will be over
SACHIN BHARDWAJ
Director Marketing & Business
Development, eHosting DataFort
capacity with huge maintenance
expenses. Over time, the facility will
be outdated and will be unable to
leverage the newer advancements
for performance and energy
consumption. At the same time
under-building the data centre can
have a huge impact on the capital
expenses if the capacity of the facility
is used up sooner than planned.
In the case of smaller organisations,
depending on the size of the company
some may already have their solutions
WHEN DATA CENTRE COLOCATION IS PART OF THE IT
STRATEGY IT HAS A DIRECT IMPACT OF THE CAPEX
DUE TO THE LEASING OF THE FACILITIES. IT THEREBY
LOWERS UP-FRONT COSTS, MINIMISES DATA CENTRE
STAFFING NEEDS AND COMES WITH TIMELY UPKEEP
AND UPGRADES OF THE EQUIPMENT
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