For over 40 years, data centers have remained relatively the same. While improvements may have surfaced here and there, their basic structure and function has been consistent.
In the spirit of naming things that don’t typically change, let’s talk about Romantic-Comedies. Open the scene to a sad character, fumbling through life, just trying to get by. Introduce a snazzy, charmer who shakes things up and shows them the brighter side of life. Wrap it up with a big emotional scene to challenge their new found relationship and pan over to the resolution and happily ever after.
In the past, what worked, worked. Why change if everything is going fine?
Unlike our favorite rom-coms, today that is not something businesses and organizations have the luxury of doing. When the digital world is growing so rapidly, you have to stay ahead of the curve and that includes updating your data centers.
In a study, Gartner highlighted the 5 key reasons to create a modern data center strategy. To get you started on the right track and keep you up to date on the trends, we’re going over 3 of them.
1.Make the data center behave more like a factory and a laboratory
According to Gartner, by 2020 more than “7 billion people and business will be connected to the internet”. And with that will also come increased expectations in speed and the overall volume of data.
To ensure that entire data centers don’t crash and burn, they will need to become more like factories. By setting up like a production-line, they will be able to handle huge volumes of data and scale up with the trends. At the same time, they should also be striving to behave like a laboratory looking at real time analytics so they don’t lose their strategic value.
2. Manage the Pressure on the data centers to become agile and innovative
Digital disruption is a big term floating around these days and basically calls attention to the rapid changes hitting the IT world every single day. Staying agile during these intense times of change will be a lot easier by implementing what Gartner calls, “biomodal IT”.
Being biomodel means that while one team is focused on keeping up with rapid changes, another team is staying low and maintaining the security and integrity of the systems.
3. Embrace new technologies in a different way
New technology with data centers also requires a new strategy to manage them. Vendors and IT departments are seeing vast changes in the hardware and software they have used for years; and you cannot expect the same strategies to work in completely new landscapes.
Letting the technology push you toward new ideas and management styles is a good thing. As devices grow in both number and complexity, the data center teams need to develop proactive strategies to manage each one.
Looking into our own data centers, we see them growing and changing every day. Keeping up with each new innovation they bring is exciting! To see each of our data centers, check out the map below!
