Technology is enabler for every industry continuous reliance to modernizing the data centres, implementing new technologies will be crucial. As technology continues to advance, data centres need to make improvements to their operations and infrastructure to ensure business is operational all times.
Key factors to be considered for Data Centre for the enterprise.
Planning for scalability
Modern day data centres deliver high-speed computational capabilities that can scale on-demand, data storage, automation, virtualisation, high-end security, and cloud computing capacities. Data centres hold enormous amounts of data and provide sophisticated computing capacities. Data centres need to be designed keeping in mind the continuously increased computing, networking, and storage requirements. If not then will be caught off guard when there is need to scale and faced with a torrent of infrastructural requirements that companies simply cannot accommodate, this will lead to costly downtime and affect business operations. There are numerous technologies available Hyper converged Infrastructure, hyper scaler as consumption component which deliver cloud-like economics with metered consumption or pay-as-you-go, without embarking on buying servers. This approach would mimic cloud paying for CPU cycles when needed or pay on service consumption. Vendors now provide service of integrated HCI which can be hosted inside customer data centres or provider which is scale as business demands and cost optimized. Green field companies to evaluate the existing provider rather than build only data centres which is expensive proposition.
Datacentreprovidersarealsoawareofcomplianceneedsoftheindustryandareable accommodatetobecompliantwithrequiredISO,HIPAandotherindustrycertificates.
Constantly Changing Technologies
The legacy data centre was a “siloed” relied heavily on hardware and physical servers and restricted by the size of the physical space expansion was challenging beyond the physical limitations of the space. Technology past decade which heavily reliant on Virtualization for the business operations, infrastructure was built around these technologies for over decade, as we are moving to new age business model which is causing disruption in different sectors the legacy virtualisation no more suits the business. There is need to have newer technologies like ML/AI to analyse large amount of data to understand the usage pattern, predict application and infra failures, rapid root cause analysis, measure metrics, downtime prediction.
Automation is taking centre stage for provisioning, configuration, patching, and monitoring without supervision, Continuous Monitoring of all business critical services and rapid detection and resolution, Hyper scalibility satisfy the big data needs of large enterprises, as company grows lot of importance given to sustainability examining everything from energy production to water usage for data centre, edge computing where need to process data at the edge and push enriched data to data centres IoT, connected enterprises and consumer data is critical for edge connectivity data centre at edge is important for faster processing at the edge.
Security is paramount of importance for enterprise there has been multiple ransomware attacks on business which caused reputation issues which prompted for huge investment in securing the enterprise from end point, application, data at various level. Due to this changing technology there is constant need for operation staff to be trained on multiple technology landscape train them constantly and empower them with required skills to able to take companies to next cycle of growth. Technology is key enabler for every business the more efficient usage is done the business gets transformed rapidly to meet customer’s demands and always one step ahead of competitions.
Governance and Certification
Governance, risk, and compliance (GRC) deliver organizations the confidence and tacklestooperatethebusinesseswithoutoversteppingregulatorybounds.Tosucceed, organizations must improve resilience and prepare for disruption to remain relevant and deliver value. The business case for GRC must focus on refining risk visibility, aligning GRC efforts to business priorities, and delivering forward-looking insights to helpenterprisetoactquicklyanddecisively.DataCentresneedstohaveallregulatory compliancecertificatelikeHIPPA,PCIDSS,SOC,ISO27001&SASE18Guidelines.The balancebetweencostandcomplianceisatrickyone,especiallyfornewerdatacenters. A well certified data center is always best gives confidence to customers.
Datacenter Tools and Technology for Management
Data centers are complex and delicate environments. Its made of multiple components performing different operations, from servers, network devices, storage, virtual machines, cooling, power units and storage racks. All components interconnected through underground or top-of-the-rack cabling and connected to power distribution units. IT Operations team & NOC Engineers struggle to keep control of every single detail in the data centre infrastructure. Data centre management software is required to provide daily insights into the operations and health of all components in data centre, comprehensive tool which can connect different devise types like Network, server, and application monitoring software with automation alerts for system, infrastructure performance with easy-to-read dashboard, observability is key for data centre management, Integration between multiple tools that can provide seamless data sharing and centralize the monitoring of multiple sites in one location for better management control.
Datacentre Security
Data Centres need to be protected against all forms of insider and outsider threats besides other forms of prominent forms of cybercrimes. They constantly pose threats to a Data Centre’s security infrastructure.
There are four layer of protection of Data centre
Perimeter security : Biometric based access control to data centre is to discourage, detect, and delay any unauthorized entry of personnel at the perimeter. High-resolution video surveillance system, motion-activated security lighting, video content analytics (VCA) to detect individuals and objects and check for any illegal activity.
Facility Controls : In case of breach in the perimeter monitoring, the second layer of defence restricts access. It is an access control system using card swipes or face detection or finger print based biometrics with high-resolution video surveillance and analytics can identify the person entering and prevents tailgating.
Computer room controls. The third layer of physical security further restricts access through diverse verification methods including monitoring all restricted areas, deployingentryrestrictionssuchasturnstile,providingVCA,providingbiometricaccess control devices to verify finger and thumb prints, irises, or vascular pattern, and using radiofrequencyidentification.Useofmultiplesystemshelpsrestrictaccessbyrequiring multiple verifications.
Rack controls. The first three layers ensure entry of only authorized personnel. However, further security to restrict access includes cabinet locking mechanisms. This layer addresses the fear of an “insider threat,” such as a malicious employee. After implementing the first three layers well, cabinets housing the racks inside the computer room also need to be protected to avoid any costly data breach.
Power and Cooling
Powering data centres are evolving as engineers attempt to find a way to make everything smaller, faster, cost effective. Factors like carbon foot-print and being eco- friendly is very critically for efficient data centres.
The most important factor in data center design is how it will be powered. With renewable energy now affordable than earlier and comparatively cheaper than fossil fuels in many cases, most enterprise are looking to build new data centres near an abundant renewable power source like hydroelectric plants, wind farms, geothermal energy. While this may limit choices based on raw materials availability, using renewable power should save companies money in the long term and helping reduce the environmental impact.
How to cool a data centre also factors into its overall design. New age data centres have turned to naturally cold environments to help cool down infrastructure, including the cold air of the arctic or the frigid waters of the ocean. When it comes to other cooling methods, companies are turning to technology like waste heat utilization, calibrated vector cooling (CVC), raised floor architecture and direct-to-chip liquid cooling. By combining renewable power with a highly efficient technology like direct-to- chip liquid cooling, companies can consume less power and save more on cost than ever before.
Conclusion
The modern world is running on technology and data, and at the centre of all of this is the data center. Its also becoming more hi-tech than earlier before. Modern data centre design will incorporate many different features that will make it easy to manage and more efficient. Data centres will focus on high-density deployments, redundancy, structured cabling, and smart security & remote monitoring. The modern data center is adopting latest technology using augmented reality, artificial intelligence, and fully autonomous machines for better efficiency. Technology innovations will allow data centres to become more efficient in many different ways to make operations better in every way in future.
Vijay Gurumurthy Capgemini- Enterprise IT
