Q + A + Q + A + Q + A + Q + A + Q + A + Q + A + Q + A +
BRIAN SMITH , BUSINESS UNIT MANAGER : MANAGED DATA CENTRE AND CLOUD SOLUTIONS , DATACENTRIX
EDITOR ’ S QUESTION
Data centre resilience is being tested like never before , particularly within the South African context where technology is under immense pressure to deliver remote working availability due to COVID-19 restrictions , while concurrently being faced with renewed power interruptions in the form of the latest bout of load-shedding .
A data centre ’ s resilience can be defined as the measurement of its ability to continue to operate despite the failure of a component , such as its related equipment or power grid connection , or any other disruption .
Data centre resilience can be considered from four aspects , namely telecommunications ( the network ), electrical ( power ), structural ( the physical building or room housing the data centre ), and mechanical ( cooling ). As prescribed by The Uptime Institute , there are standard data centre resilience measurements , known as tier ratings . There are four tiers of data centre resilience , from lowest to highest : N , N + 1 , 2N and 2N + 1 .
Continuous resilience improvement is a must today , with connectivity being many a business ’ life-support system . Local C-level executives therefore have to scrutinise their specific business requirements when it comes to its advancement . They must address questions such as : how much downtime is acceptable ; how much budget can go towards improving resilience – which would need to take infrastructure , maintenance costs and more into consideration ; does the cooling system work , even if there is no power ; is it possible to generate power within the data centre ; and whether or not the correct technical skills are in place . Once these questions have been answered , a business ’ uptime needs become clearer .
Next is whether it makes more sense to host the data centre internally , or outsource it to an expert .
To improve resilience towards reaching the five or six nines of availability can be an expensive exercise within an existing , in-house data centre , to the tune of millions of rands , only recoverable over the following seven to 10 years . It would require the right equipment , the right staff and the right maintenance contracts in place . Location of the data centre is also critical , with access to more power if needed , as well as a seamless connection to more than one telecom provider . Essentially , as availability is increased , so too is the cost ratio for each percentage point gained .
The benefits of outsourcing data centre requirements mean that the services partner will handle power and connectivity requirements , ensure that the right equipment is in place and have the right staff and technical expertise on board – with uptime service level agreements ( SLAs ) in place .
This will not only ease remote working requirements , it also allows businesses to step away from budgeting towards an OPEX focused model .
One of the major advantages of a hosted environment is the economies of scale ; there is a fixed investment spread over a larger group of companies all accessing the service , and ultimately making a high availability , higher tiered environment more accessible to many organisations from a cost point of view . www . intelligentcio . com INTELLIGENTCIO
27