Data Center Renovation: 10 Ways You Know It’s Overdue

by Chris Preimesberger

Do you have centralized control over your data center???í If not, take a serious look at what virtualization can mean to your data center. Virtualization enables a degree of centralized management and control that hasn’t been seen since the mainframe was king.??í

Advances in blade servers, storage and networking combine to catapult performance ahead of business needs. Blade servers, for example, have introduced the concept of high-density data centers that pack previously unheard-of performance in a single rack. New rack design and cooling technology provide a new level of control and savings in both cost and energy consumption.

This means your IT staff is spending countless hours on mundane tasks just to keep your computing infrastructure up and running rather than focusing on the ways in which IT can help advance the goals of the business.??íConsider outsourcing some of those functions to a managed services provider; remote monitoring and management are becoming accepted practices in most IT departments today.

The best way to proceed is to set aside discussions about which technologies to choose, concentrate on a comprehensive evaluation of the current infrastructure, and develop a set of requirements that account for the current and future needs of the organization.

If you find yourself looking for name plates on the backs of equipment to answer questions about load and power requirements, take heed. Too often, those power requirements fail to accommodate all the variables like cabinetry and UPSes, and that may result in a plan that is short-sighted.

The best data centers are dynamic systems that can evolve as demands change, and they have equipment that can interconnect seamlessly. New applications and communications architectures like SAAS and unified communications require that everything in the data center works well by itself and together.

Hope is not a strategy.??íIf you’re not really sure how well your disaster recovery plan will protect your data in the event of a flooded data center, an earthquake or any other emergency scenario, then your plan is outdated.

Having the right kind of HVAC cooling systems, including computer room air conditioning (CRAC) and in-row cooling technologies, allows you to maintain optimal temperatures in the data center while conserving energy and its associated costs.

Your CFO can be your biggest ally when you’re pitching the need for an updated data center. The key is to learn to speak his or her language. The CFO is looking for ways to reduce costs and present a balanced budget sheet. Talk the talk, and your CFO will back you up.

If you can move some of your own equipment to a co-location facility or use the equipment owned by an outsourcing partner, you can lower cap-ex costs or transform them into operational costs altogether—a good way to kick-start your pitch for an updated data center with the person who signs the checks.