STEPS TO BUILDING
DATA CENTRE
There is a rapid growth underscores the need for more and more data centers to house and manage all this information. Yet, choosing to build a data center is not a simple task for an organization – these are long-term and costly projects
When an enterprise begins to think about the need for a new data center facility, much of the work takes place before ever breaking ground for construction. Without the proper planning, organizations risk creating a new data center that is too big, not optimized for efficiency, incurs higher capital costs than necessary, or is not adequate to meet both existing and future needs. There are key items to consider when planning to build a new data center to ensure the project meets the needs of the organization and constituencies it’s designed to serve: existing facilities, the organization’s business needs, and the data center and technology environment. Key to understanding how to plan and build a new data center is by knowing the details of your existing data center setup and capacity, whether that is your own facility, a colocation provider, or a cloud service.
Getting a clear picture of what already exists helps determine if building a new data center is indeed the right option. It’s possible that colocation, outsourcing, or a cloud or hybrid model could best meet your organization’s data center needs. Also, this phase (along with the design process) can sometimes take place alongside or even before the site selection and assessment process. The developer outlines the different parameters the site will need to fulfil, from a target PUE, whether to build greenfield or retrofit an existing site, levels of power redundancy, and whether the site will be built in multiple phases or all at once
This is where the broad criteria established in the assessment and planning phases solidify into answers to specific questions like how many racks the data centre will have, how the building’s power can meet certain standards like LEED certification, and how individual server halls will be laid out. As part of this evaluation process, it’s also critical to understand the goals of the business, and how the data center meets the needs of the company. A key part of this is to understand the role of IT in the organization, as well as how the data center and its operations align with the business. That requires looking closely at how much data the business deals with, how it is gathered, stored, and accessed, who uses the data and how, and the relevant industry standards the data center must comply with
The timeline for building a data centre can vary wildly depending on regulatory, logistical, and budgetary concerns. A simple 2 MW colocation facility could be online in just a few months, whereas a 200 MW hyperscale campus might be under construction for years - which is why many of these campuses come online in multiple stages. In order to maximise revenues and begin to create ROI, operators will try to keep the time between the completion of a data hall and the move in date for its customers as short as possible. Once a facility spins up, it also begins generating data about itself, allowing for on-the-fly tweaks and redesigns which can further improve the performance of later stages of the facility. Data center projects are complex undertakings. When it’s done right, a brand new data center will support your business objectives and meet current and anticipated future needs. The way to set up your organization for success
with this project is to understand existing data center facilities, know the business needs of the organization, and have knowledge of the necessary data center and technology environment. The information gained from this assessment and evaluation process helps you determine the specific requirements for your new data center, get a clear understanding of total costs for the project and time it will take to complete, evaluate appropriate sites, and execute a construction plan. With this information, your organization will be able to create a datadriven and efficient plan to meet your data center needs today and tomorrow. What is Data centre? At its simplest, a data center is a physical facility that organizations use to house their critical applications and data. A data center's design is based on a network of computing and storage resources that enable the delivery of shared applications and data. The key components of a data center design include routers, switches, firewalls, storage systems, servers, and application-delivery controllers. Why are data centers important to business? In the world of enterprise IT, data centers are designed to support business applications and activities that include: • Email and file sharing • Productivity applications • Customer relationship management (CRM) • Enterprise resource planning (ERP) and databases • Big data, artificial intelligence, and machine learning • Virtual desktops, communications and collaboration services.