The ABC of Data Center

Get a complete know how about Data Center

The management of workforce had seen many changes across the world. Many management experts have put forward their theories that would contribute in building up an organisation resourcefully and then taking to the next level of success. But over years management experts have felt the need to maintain data flowing within and outside the organisation. The concept maintenance of data has taken a front seat. It is has now become a quintessential success mantra for big business house. They know the power of data and the change it could bring into an organisation if they are preserved, analysed, processed, and disseminated on requirement. This has called for building of huge servers that have colossal data storage capacity and also the installation of necessary equipment necessary to keep the servers running in a good condition. Therefore, in simple terms one could define data center as a place which where a large facility is installed to with huge servers and supporting components that performs data centric function. The words ‘data centric’ means that that a data center collects, stores, processes and disseminates data whenever required.

Inception of Data Center

 The beginning of data center can be dated back to time when huge computers rooms werebuilt that consumed immense amount of power. Even the systems were pretty hard to operate and preserve which also required specially built environment conducive to the system. The system and the structure were too complex to handle. Now with passage of time new systems evolved and in 1990 with development of multi-tasking PC’s the door to inception of data center became wide open where time sharing system were easy to develop. These came to be used in building server rooms and data center is an enlarged version of such server rooms.

Additional systems required for building data center in gist

 The data center requirement and its related component can be summarised as follows:

(a)  Power supply- Any data center requires an uninterrupted flow of power without which it cannot function properly. In case of power failure any business may face disruption due to which it may have to incur further cost in addition to loss of revenue due to shut of the system. Therefore, business houses sometimes install generator facility so that it could overcome the power failure situation. Even the system is powered by power supply without any interruption also known as UPS.

  

(b)   Continuous cooling system- In order to maintain the system work in continuity it is utmost essential to supply the facility with continuous cooling which helps in preventing the system to get overheated.

(c)  Security system-  In order to ensure that the facility is fool-proof the a proper security system is to be built that could cope with any adverse situation which might occur like fire fighting equipments, proper ventilation in order to remove smoke, authorised access, surveillance through video camera and even alarms in case of fire.  

Certification of Data Center and its feature

An internationally recognised body, which is known as the Uptime Institute, has classified data centers according to their functions and on the basis on accessibility of data from a place. The data centers have been appropriately classified as follows:

Tier I - This type of Data Center is the most initial in phase and has fewer requirements compared to other Tier’s. The few important features of this Tier are:

  

     (a)    It has non-redundant data path dissemination system.

(b)    It has non-redundant component system

(c)    The availability time of this Tier is 99.671%

(d)   The computer systems served under this mode have more chances of data disruption and business operation due a small technical snag in the facility.

(e)    It is suitable for small business organisation.

Tier II  - This is the second category of Tier which has a bit more advanced feature compared to Tier 1 with higher performance of the system which are less susceptible to disruption. The important features are:

(a)    It has redundant capacity component unlike Tier 1.

(b)   The data distribution path is non- redundant hence chances of failures and disruption is high.

(c)    Component can removed from existing operation without affecting any of the computer system.

(d)    The availability time expressed in percentage is 99.741%

(e)    It is suitable for call centers

Tier III- This is the third category in Tier with all or more advanced features compared to other Tier. One could even say that it is an updated version of the above two Tier’s. It’s important features are as follows:

(a)   The facility features in it with duplicate capacity component also termed as redundant

(b)    The system can be concurrently maintained i.e. the individual component and the distribution path can be easily put to repairs, replaced, serviced etc on basis as planned by the entity.

(d)     The distribution path is also redundant in nature.

(e)     The availability time of this Tier is 99.982%.

(f)     It is suitable for automated business environment  and even companies lying on different time zones.

Tier IV- This is the last and the most advanced structure in Tiers as defined by the Uptime institute. It constitutes all the important features of the previous 3 Tiers and requires more investment compared to other Tiers. The following are some of the important features:

(a)  The system constitute of both redundant capacity component and distribution path.

(b)   This Tier can also be concurrently maintained like Tier III.

(c) The distribution path is multiple which simultaneously serves various computers and equipments.

(d)   The components are Fault Tolerant i.e. it can support the computer system even during any unplanned or unwanted event without disrupting the business operation.

(e)    The availability time of this Tier is 99.995%.

(f)   It always requires Continuous Cooling System in order to be available continuously.

(g)    These are suitable for large organisations that have large resources to build such facility.

Security measures adopted by Data Center

 The data center security measure to some extent reaches the same level as that of the any big private corporate house would have installed under its scope. These security features are mentioned herein below:

(a)   The first and the most initial step that should be taken is to restrict the access of such data centers to only limited authorised person who must possess and show photo ID proof.

(b)    There must be properly trained staff personal and security personnel present each hour of the day.

(c)     Even if someone enters the premises, there must be proper biometric access installed to restrict such unauthorised access by such individual in server rooms.

(d)     Uninterrupted Power Supply (UPS) should be present with proper back-ups like diesel generators.

(e)    There must be constant surveillance through closed circuit camera or CCTV on each and every activity of the person in and outside the premises.

(f)    There should exist a fool proof fire detection mechanism for early detection of fire and appropriate measure must be taken in such a situation.

 (g)   If possible there should be check points installed at intervals in highly confidential areas.

(h)    An intruder revealing system should be in place so that alarms and alerts are immediately sent to the higher authority and appropriate measures be taken.

(j)     Data transfer must take place in encrypted form so that it cannot be decoded by any third party.

(k)    There must also be proper data back-up facility so that customer’s data is backed by proper facility.

So these are some of the few important features of security measures taken by companies installing the facility. The details can be better understood by availing the benefits of experts in the field providing the service.

Data center services for Businesses

The service that a data center can offer to businesses varies and depends mainly on the perception of the individual. There can be services that are offered by data center and even services offered to data centers. Generally the services that are offered by data centers are data backup, cloud hosting and documentation/archiving. Therefore it caters business from small business house to big corporate house. There are a host of player in the market which offer these kinds of services to business across the world. The services offered by data centers helps clients overcome the challenges they face due non-availability of data center facility. On availing the services they can maintain data with integrity with advanced technology and IT infrastructure. One could easily find the examples at meteorological departments that make weather forecast. They have large data centers which stores large amount of data related to global environment and weather.

Benefits of Data Center to Business

The requirement of data center is inevitable as the data need of every business organisation is growing day by day. Therefore, it is utmost essential for business houses to look for appropriate set up and opt for the right data center that would be beneficial for the organisation. The benefits of a data center to businesses are as follows:

(a)    Data centers help in maintaining the data in efficient manner which can be processed at the wills of the companies in a manner that is beneficial to their organisation.

(b)   It imparts data security features which cannot be accessed by public. Only authorised person have access to data.

(c)   Low on cost as it not always possible for small businesses to avail the benefits of the Tier IV data center. So one could avail the benefits of cloud computing and hosting facility. The enterprise does not have to allocate more resources towards data maintenance.

(d)   The image and reputation of the organisation goes up.

(e)   The revenue of the organisation also goes up on one hand and on the other hand cost incurred also goes down.

(f)  The business reaches another level of virtualization and the reach of the organisation also grows. The process is also standardized and one could the get the services of the best IT giants.

(g)   Disaster recovery.  The possibility of data being lost gets reduced to minimum. Therefore, it becomes possible to recover data in case of disaster.

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