Posts Tagged "Data Centers"

Data Centers have become nerve centers of the organizations in the modern digital world. Their performance and efficiency are crucial levers of organizational success. The challenge for technology heads has been to arrive at Data Center solutions that are cost-effective, offering value without compromising on essential features. Utilizing available space for Data Center scaling is a cost-saving method often employed by organizations. This measure can only yield short-term value. Creating a cost-effective Data Center with optimum performance and decent ROI, in the long run, requires elaborate planning. Companies can plan a cost-effective Data Center transformation using the following measures.

Disaggregated architecture

We often visualize a Data Center like the one with racks of servers, blinking and humming away. What happens when one of the server modules get compromised or damaged? Will you replace the entire server? It will be wiser if you replace or upgrade only the equipment in question as this approach has lower downtime and is more cost-effective. A disaggregated architecture like High-Performance Compute (HPC) offers this benefit. An intelligent HPC architecture can transform your Data Center and give you significant savings in the long term.

The plan for a Data Center transformation or development relies on some key functions like design computing and power management. Making effective use of these functions would result in cost saving. Electronic design automation can shorten the design cycle for the Data Center architecture, which reduces the time to market. Further, with disaggregated architecture offered by HPC, physical operations become more cost-effective than workloads running on the cloud. A comparative cost saving upwards of 60% can be achieved.

Traditional Data Centers used power architectures with limitations and thus, incurred a major cost when scaling up, but modern Data Centers use low power consuming servers and efficient cooling systems and thus, have higher Power Usage Effectiveness and less cost. A desegregated architecture can further bring down the operating costs of a Data Center.

Micro-Data Centers

Scalability, speed and reliability. The modern business world relies on these elements for its operation, and they can be optimized by deploying the right technology. If the costs are not managed well, it can put a strain on the organization. The question is – Is the desired ROI achievable? The use of Micro-Data Centers that are located closer to the points of consumption can reduce latency and cost both for cloud and a remote Data Center. The micro-architecture can reduce up to 42% of the capital expenditure when compared to traditional Data Centers.

Data Centers designed with technologies like virtualization, compaction, and hyperconvergence result in significant cost savings. Virtualization allows a company to use the computing power across workloads in a Data Center, saving power; compaction consolidates multiple racks into one, saving space. On top of it, hyperconvergence integrates high performance compute, high performance storage, and networking, thereby increasing the speed of deployment.

Power provisioning

Around 3% of the total electricity in the world is utilized by global Data Centers, and that amounts to roughly 416 terawatts. By 2025, Data Centers would end up consuming a fifth of the global power. No wonder, power is a major concern when it comes to Data Centers, and power-saving measures bring cost benefits for an organization. Power provisioning can be used to optimize Data Center power consumption by understanding how power is consumed by equipment, servers, and workloads, and optimizing it.

Power supplies have a sweet spot, the level at which high operational efficiencies can be achieved. However, most Data Centers operate below this level. The reason why companies could be restrictive in using enough power is the cautious measure of average and peak power consumption given on the nameplate of a power supply equipment. However, it is important to understand that if the Data Center is operating below this sweet spot, it could be wasting energy, and this wasted energy would further increase the need for cooling. Using the right power supplies, amortizing power across servers, and running Data Centers at optimum loads can bring efficiency and cost-savings.

A cost-effective Data Center transformation can be achieved through effective architecture, fast deployment, and optimized power consumption. Organizations can beneficially employ these measures when scaling up their Data Centers for achieving long-term gains.

Sify Data Center and cloud services help you to centralize your IT infrastructure, operations, storage & management and enjoy tremendous scale and a lower cost of ownership. Our consultative solution approach helps you define a business technology strategy where delivery of services supports clear business outcomes.

Data is growing at an exponential rate in the modern borderless world. Over 2.5 Quintilian bytes of data is generated every day across the globe. India alone is set to produce 2.3 million petabytes of digital data by the year 2020, and it is growing at a rate that’s much faster than the world average. Many enterprises are also exploring online data backup in the cloud further fueling this data explosion.

This data explosion increases the demand for storage capacities that are served by Data Centers. In just two decades, Data Centers have scaled up from the size of a room to the size of a commercial tower giving way to accommodate this increased storage need. Besides storage, modern Data Centers are also sprucing up to handle more services. They are more connected than ever and can meet the needs of the contemporary business world.  New solutions have emerged around Data Center architecture that can bring competitive advantages to users through more optimized performance. Data Centers have now become critical components of a modern IT infrastructure.

In India, we see emerging businesses growing at a fast pace, with cloud computing technologies and cloud warehouses taking the lead to store enormous amounts of digital data. At the beginning of the 21st century, most organizations in India had captive Data Centers that were self-managed. With advances introduced in cloud technologies and specialized players adding more capabilities, the self-managed option was replaced by the outsourcing model. Increase in the users, economic growth of the country, and cost advantages of cloud-based Data Centers are some of the trends driving adoption of a cloud-based architecture.  Captive Data Centers are expensive to accommodate and challenging to scale. However, cloud-based Data Center architectures are more flexible.

Many new technologies, services, and facilities that were premium and rare earlier are now part of standard offerings in modern Data Centers. These services are reshaping the way businesses operate today.

Another trend to note is the emergence of Modular 4th generation Data Centers. These Data Centers comprise modular units that help in quickly scaling up the infrastructure. In addition to the components in the racks being modular, the building itself could be modular. For instance, some Data Centers are built in shipping containers. Scaling up means adding more shipping containers with Data Center units.

Resolving the Challenges

Many challenges of the past have now been resolved with architectural advances in the Data Center space. For instance, Pod architecture for SaaS assigns a set of machines to a specific job or customer for all of its required tasks. To create redundancies for power and cooling in a Data Center, a lot of assembling needs to be done which can incur a cost. You may also need to construct additional racks. However, POD comes with frames that are free standing and compatible with most equipment so it can be used for all needs including power, cooling, and cabling. So, your need for construction within the Data Center facility is minimized. It can simplify infrastructure scaling to support your digital growth. It is a standardized deployment that can automate user provisions. It allows you to use shared storage, firewall, and load balancing while customizing individual PODs as per your business needs. When scaling up users, you would not need to perk up your whole infrastructure but only add or remove specific resources user-by-user, which can help reduce overheads.

While Data Centers serve as an ideal place to use your critical applications, operating them has been a big challenge in the past. A Data Center is affected by many environmental factors that add inevitable complexities. A Data Center operator needs to take care of the cooling needs of Data Centers as well as maintain correct levels of air and humidity in the storage spaces. These challenges make it worthwhile for companies to try cloud-based shared storage space managed by third-party experts who could be better equipped to counter these problems. In modern warehouses, Computer Room Air Conditioning (CRAC) device is used instead of traditional air conditioning, which can monitor as well as maintain humidity, air flow, and temperature in a Data Center.

The future is smart!

The future of the Data Center is smart: modern Data Centers are now offering converged infrastructure, and the trend is further moving towards hyper-convergence. This has brought many advantages for Data Center operations and has also solved problems that paralyzed companies earlier. The risk of hardware failure, for instance, plagues companies with the risk of losing data and they struggle to rebuild their infrastructure. Siloed approaches to managing servers was another challenge that made Data Center operations expensive and complicated. With converged infrastructures, the process of managing a Data Center gets organized; with a single interface used for infrastructure management, your company turns more proactive in streamlining your operational processes and in keeping your data on the cloud safe.

While consolidation of operations through convergence makes management easier, most servers are still siloed, and that is where hyper-convergence plays its magic. Hyper-converged Data Centers are software-defined Data Centers that are also called smart Data Centers. They use virtualization and converge all operational layers including computing, networking, and storage into a single box. With hyper-convergence, everything is now on the same server which brings improved efficiencies, reduced costs, and increased control over Data Center components.

Colocation: A trend to watch

Rethink IT, replace captive servers with cloud services. You would now need much less space for storing the same amount of data than you needed in a captive Data Center. Welcome to the concept of managed colocation!

Colocation services (or Colo) are delivered by Data Center solution providers to enhance user experience. A hybrid cloud drives them and provides specialized services for their users. A collocation is a place where customers have better control over their private infrastructure, and with increased proximity to the public cloud, they can also be closer to their customers.

A colocation service relies on the principles of abstraction, software-based provisioning, automation, unified management, and microservices. Colo facilities are highly flexible as it can reap the advantages of both private and public cloud with a hybrid infrastructure. While private cloud gives enhanced security and control, the public cloud makes it easy to transport data over encrypted connections and gives you additional storage space.

Modern colocation services are now shifting to Data Center-as-a-Service (DCaaS) which is a much more flexible deployment than Software as a Service, Platform as a Service, and Infrastructure as a Service models. A hybrid DCaaS colocation architecture has a public IaaS platform, on hosted or on-premise private cloud and a Wide Area Network (WAN) to connect the two. A major advantage of DCaaS is the change in the cost equation. DCaaS providers have high economies of scale that allow them to offer you volume-based discounts taking your costs down. The DCaaS hybrid cloud architecture not only provides hybrid storage flexibility and cost advantage but also other benefits like increased redundancies, improved agility, and maximum security.

A hybrid cloud combines the resources available to you on the private cloud and the public cloud and gives you the flexibility to seamlessly move your data between them. With changes in your cost structures and business needs, you can flip your resources between the two clouds anytime. If you’ve reached the designed capacity of your current private cloud, you can always switch to a Public cloud for further expansion. For instance, Cloud bursting can give you on-demand storage over the public cloud so that you can shift the increased burden on your private cloud to the public in peak business seasons.

Data Center technologies are still emerging, and new architectures like hybrid cloud and hyper-convergence are taking shape. In the future, more companies would realize the benefits of these architectural modifications and will be able to enjoy far higher capacities and advanced Data Center management capabilities.

 

Sify offers state of the art Data Centers to ensure the highest levels of availability, security, and connectivity for your IT infra. Our Data Centers are strategically located in different seismic zones across India, with highly redundant power and cooling systems that meet and even exceed the industry’s highest standards.

Modern Data Centers are synonymous with massive high-speed computational capabilities, data storage at scale, automation, virtualization, high-end security, and cloud computing capacities. They hold massive amounts of data and provide sophisticated computing capacities. Earlier, a simple network of racks with storage units and a set of management tools to individually manage them were enough. The architecture was simple to understand, and only local resources were consumed in its operation.

However, as organizations became increasingly internet dependent, the volumes of the data exploded with more of it added by the social media and the sensing devices that grew manifold. Remote access to this data through the Web emerged as the trend. The local tools that were used earlier in traditional Data Center were fragmented and were inefficient to handle not just the volumes but also complexities that in effect needed a large infrastructure. There were challenges of scaling up when companies expanded, and performance dipped when peak loads were required to be handled. This led to the evolution of hyperscaling as a solution.

Hyperscale is based on the concept of distributed systems and on-demand provisions of the IT resources. Unlike the traditional Data Center, a hyperscale Data Center calls in a large number of servers working together at high speeds. This ability gives the Data Center a capacity to scale both horizontally and vertically. Horizontal scaling involves on-demand provisioning of more machines from the network when scaling is required. Vertical scaling is about adding power to existing machines to increase their computing capacities. Typically hyperscale Data Centers have lower load times and higher uptimes, even in the demanding situations like the need for high-volume data processing.

Today, there are more than 400 hyperscale Data Centers operating in the world, with the United States alone having 44% of the global Data Center sites. By 2020, the hyperscaled Data Center count is expected to reach 500 as predicted by Synergy Research Group. Other leading countries with hyperscaled Data Center footprints are Australia, Brazil, Canada, Germany, India and Singapore.

Hyperscale Data Center Can Do More at Less Time and Lower Cost

A traditional Data Center typically has a SAN (Storage Area Network) provided mostly by a single vendor. The machines within the Data Center would be running on Windows or Linux, and multiple servers would be connected through commodity switches. Each server in the network would have its local management software installed in it and each equipment connected to them would have its own switch to activate the connection. In short, each component in a traditional Data Center would work in isolation.

In contrast, a hyperscale Data Center employs a clustered structure with multiple nodes housed in a single rack space. Hyperscaling uses storage capacities within the servers by creating a shared pool of resources, which eliminates the need for installation of a SAN. The hyperconvergence also makes it easier to upgrade the systems and provide support through a single vendor solution for the whole infrastructure. Instead of having to manage individual arrays and management interfaces, hyperscaling means integration of all capacities, such as storage, management, networks and data, which are managed from a single interface.

Installing, managing and maintaining a large infrastructure consisting of huge Data Centers would have been impossible for emerging companies or startups that have limited capital and other resources. However, with hyperconvergence, even microenterprises and SMEs, as well as early stage startups can now enjoy access to a large pool of resources that are cost-effective and provide high scalability in addition to flexibility. With hyperconvergence, these companies can use Data Center services in at a much lesser cost with the additional benefit of scalability on demand.

A hyperscale Data Center would typically have more than 5000 servers that are linked through a high-speed fiber optics network. A company can start small with only a few servers configured for use and then, later at any point of time, automatically provision additional storage from any of the servers in the network as their business scales up. An estimate of the demand for additional infrastructure is made based on how the workloads are increasing, and a proactive step can be taken to scale up capacities to meet the increasing need for resources. Unlike traditional Data Centers that work in isolation, hyperscaled infrastructures depend on the idea of making all servers work in tandem, creating a unified system of storage and computing.

When implementing a hyperscale infrastructure, the supplier could play a significant role through the delivery of next-gen technologies that need high R&D investments. According to a McKinsey report, the top five companies using hyperconverged infrastructure have over $50 billion of capital invested in 2017 and these investments are growing at the rate of 20% annually.

Leveraging hyperscaled Data Centers, businesses can achieve superior performance and deliver more at a lower cost and a fraction of time than before. This provides businesses with the flexibility of scaling up on demand and an opportunity to continue operations without any interruptions.

 

Sify offers state of the art Data Centers to ensure the highest levels of availability, security, and connectivity for your IT infra. Our Data Centers are strategically located in different seismic zones across India, with highly redundant power and cooling systems that meet and even exceed the industry’s highest standards.

Modern-day Data Centers provide massive computational capabilities while having a smaller footprint. This poses a significant challenge for keeping the Data Center cool, since more transistors in computer chips, means more heat dissipation, which requires greater cooling. Thereby, it has come to a point where traditional cooling systems are no longer adequate for modern Data Center cooling.

Legacy Cooling: Most Data Centers still use legacy cooling systems. They use raised floors to deliver cold air to Data Center servers, and this comes from Computer Room Air Conditioner (CRAC) units. These Data Centers use perforated tiles to allow cold air to leave from the plenum to enter the main area near the servers. Once this air passes through the server units, heated air is then returned to the CRAC unit for cooling. CRAC units have humidifiers to produce steam for running fans for cooling. Hence, they also ensure the required humidity conditions.

However, as room dimensions increased in modern Data Centers, legacy cooling systems become inadequate. These Data Centers need additional cooling systems besides the CRAC unit. Here is a list of techniques and methods used for modern Data Center cooling.

Server Cooling: Heat generated by the servers are absorbed and drawn away using a combination of fans, heat sinks, pipes within ITE (Information Technology Equipment) units.1 Sometimes, a server immersion cooling system may also be used for enhanced heat transfer.

Space Cooling: The overall heat generated within a Data Center is also transferred to air and then into a liquid form using the CRAC unit.

Heat Rejection: Heat rejection is an integral part of the overall cooling process. The heat taken from the server is displaced using CRAC units, CRAH (Computer Room Air Handler) units, split systems, airside economization, direct evaporative cooling and indirect evaporative cooling systems. An economizing cooling system turns off the refrigerant cycle drawing air from outside into the Data Center so that the inside air can get mixed with the outside air to create a balance. Evaporated water is used by these systems to supplement this process by absorbing energy into chilled water and then lowering the bulb temperature to match the temperature of the air.

Containments: Hot and cold aisle containment use air handlers to contain cool or hot air and let the remaining air out. A hot containment would contain hot exhaust air and let cooler air out while cold containment would do vice versa.3 Many new Data Centers use hot aisle containment which is considered as a more flexible cooling solution as it can meet the demands of increased density of systems.

Closed-Couple cooling: Closed-Couple Cooling or CCC includes above-rack, in-rack or rear-door heat exchanger systems. It involves bringing the cooling system closer to the server racks itself for enhanced heat-exchange.2 This technology is very effective as well as flexible with long-term provisions but requires significant investments.

Conclusion

Companies can choose a cooling system based on the cooling needs, infrastructure density, uptime needs, space factors, and cost factors. The choice of the right cooling system becomes critical when the Data Center needs to have high uptime and avoid any downtime due to energy issues.

 

Sify offers state of the art Data Centers to ensure the highest levels of availability, security, and connectivity for your IT infra. Our Data Centers are strategically located in different seismic zones across India, with highly redundant power and cooling systems that meet and even exceed the industry’s highest standards.

Data Center migration is essential for companies looking to meet the growing demands of the IT/data services. However essential, this process comes with its own set of challenges. Thus, it would be wise to tread carefully and assess both the core necessities and challenges that usually accompany Data Center migration.

Data Center migration involves moving a part or the entire IT operation of a company from the existing Data Center to another, either physically or virtually (shared Data Centers via the cloud). Here are the five basic challenges, or rather considerations to make for a successful Data Center migration:

1. Service Provider Credentials

Before rushing into a collaboration with a Data Center migration provider, it is important to assess the service providers business; what is their track record of providing Data Center services as well as maintaining colocation Data Centers; do they operate by purchasing the Data Center services from multiple providers; what are the terms and conditions. Usually, if a provider leases services instead of having their own facilities, it can be safely said that it will not offer stability or efficiency in delivering the pivotal IT needs for a digital enterprise.

Hence, doing a little research ahead of the Data Center migration about the provider helps assess the quality of services of the provider.

2. Customer Service

An excellent customer service is demanded of any service, and Data Center migration is no exception. Providers that have created a good track record of their services in the market have done so by not only delivering seamless and actionable IT/data solutions but also by catering to the minor troubles and issues faced by their customers. The services of good providers are accompanied by on-demand expert assistance with less wait time. Also, one has to consider whether or not a prospective provider can meet all the expectations and business demands as and when necessary. Thus, companies should always try to dig a little deeper to gain knowledge about the customer service of a provider before choosing one for Data Center migration.

3. Data Center Location

The location of a service provider’s Data Center is a major factor for the future operations of a company. It may be so that a provider promises to deliver all the core needs of a company today, but in the future, they may falter from that promise. For instance, if a provider takes over another Data Center provider’s location, there are chances that the Data Center facilities may fall within close proximity of each other. As a result, the service provider may feel it’s unnecessary to have multiple Data Centers situated closely and may shut down some chosen locations. This can become a huge inconvenience if a company’s location is in the phase out location. Thus, to avoid such unsavory situations, it’s best to choose a provider with their own facilities located strategically.

4. Service Bundling

Customers can hugely benefit from Data Center providers that provide access to facility resources and network connectivity to the users. However, not all providers are able to deliver this. Providers that do not own their own facilities, locations, and operations, often collaborate with third-party providers or platforms, which may cease to exist in the future. And when that happens, it is sure to affect a company’s operations. And it might end up in a situation where the customers will have to make adjustments with two separate providers that may no longer be able to offer seamless and efficient services.

5. Reliability

Finally, one of the most important factors to consider for Data Center migration is the reliability of the service provider. To determine this, one has to analyze the security systems, HVAC features, OPEX, availability and uptime, and other such measures. It would be wise to choose a provider with a history of minimal number of service outages, since a service outage can cost you dearly. Also, while choosing a provider, one should check if it is a certified Data Center that offers stable, cost-efficient, and state-of-the-art services.

These are the five core areas where companies can face numerous challenges while opting for a Data Center migration. However, they can be easily overcome if addressed with a little caution and risk-assessment approach.

Outsource complex and time-consuming Data Center migration to Sify.

To learn more about SIFY DATA CENTER MIGRATION SERVICES and how we can be your best choice to carefully plan and perfectly execute your Data Center migration project.

For one reason or another, every business requires a Data Center at some point. There is an ever-increasing demand for data everywhere, and as a result of this, companies require more and more processing power and storage space.

There isn’t a specific kind of company that will require a Data Center, but some are more likely to require it than others. For instance, any kind of business which uses, processes, or stores a lot of data will definitely require a Data Center. These businesses can be educational institutions – like schools or colleges, telecom companies, or even social networking services. Without constant access to data, these companies can fall short on providing essential services. This can lead to loss of customer satisfaction as well as revenue.

Earlier, businesses only had the option of going for a physical Data Center, where data would be stored across several devices in a single facility. At such a time, to ensure smooth operations of the Data Center, it was enough simply to have an efficient cooling strategy in which power was judiciously used.

With the rise in technology, however, cloud servers are now available on which data can be stored remotely. As a result of this, the future of Data Centers is one in which all devices are connected across several different networks. This requires more Data Center elements than existed previously. Moreover, the metrics on which the efficiency of a Data Center is judged have also evolved.

There are now 4 factors according to which the success of a Data Center can be determined. They are:

• Infrastructure
• Optimization
• Sizing
• Sustainability

Infrastructure

A lot of businesses forget the fact that infrastructure can directly impact the performance of a network. Maximizing network performance can be achieved by paying attention to three parts of the complete infrastructure – the first being structured cabling, the second being racks and cabinets, and the third being cable management.

To take just one example, scalable as well as feasible rack and cabinet solutions are an effective way of realizing this. Not only can they accommodate greater weight thresholds, but they also have movable rails and broader vertical managers. This provides options for increased cable support, airflow, and protection.

Optimization

The faster a Data Centers expands, the quicker it grows in terms of size and complexity. This requires significantly quick deployment time. A Data Center needs to be updated regularly to support the growing needs of a business. Purchasing infrastructure solutions which can optimize time will be a wise decision in this regard – it will help in manifold ways by making it easier to move infrastructure, or to make additions or subtractions to an already existing setup.

A modular solution can become the foundation for scalable building infrastructure and save time as well! Modular racks and cabinets can be put together quickly, and also have adjustable rails and greater weight thresholds. Thus, they can accommodate new equipment very easily. Such a modular solution can support future changes in the network as well, without increasing the scope of disruption.

Sizing

Earlier, the one key factor in assessing the efficiency of a Data Center in terms of size was to see how fast it would grow. Accordingly, the infrastructure supporting it would also grow. While sounding simple in theory, such a principled decision – that expansion will happen without any forethought – is detrimental both in terms of capital as well as energy.

The truth is that space is a premium everywhere – so why shouldn’t this be the case while considering a Data Center? An infrastructure system should always be built for optimization, so that the process of scaling is straightforward and not beset by liabilities of any kind. One simple way to achieve this is to adopt the rack as the basic building block for a Data Center.

Sustainability

Sustainability is not a singular concept. While it is often associated with not destroying natural resources, it can also be tailored to achieve the opposite effect – to conserve them. A myth is often propagated regarding natural resources – that it is more expensive to streamline processes to be sustainable. The truth is that it costs the same and, moreover, it has a lot of benefits as well.

When sustainable manufacturers design solutions which lower the overall impact your Data Center will have on the environment, it translates into more flexibility in terms of design, shorter installation times, as well as reduction in material waste on site – and much, much more. The key factor is energy efficiency, and therefore all other processes are streamlined to fit this metric.

It is no longer enough simply to consider effective cooling and energy solutions as the be-all and end-all of Data Center operations. Data Centers play a crucial role in terms of a business’ overall success, and trying simply to maximize efficiency within a Data Center is a short-sighted target. Other forms of efficiency can equip the Data Center to be changed later at reduced costs, thus making it more capital-effective.

Ultimately, the goal should be to make the Data Center have efficient infrastructure and optimized modular solutions. In addition, it should be scalable in terms of size, without incurring liabilities, and should also be sustainable, as it will help with all of the above.

Focus on your core business and outsource the complexities of Data Center operations to Sify

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