Today's Data Center Challenges

[SDeblat]

There is no one simple answer to all of today’s challenges, especially in controlling operating costs and reducing the amount of power consumed for cooling. Addressing them requires a broad range of power reduction technologies, along with a comprehensive IT and Facilities strategy that optimizes power usage across the datacenter.

[booking1212]

I would like to add one more point about Today's Data Center Challenges

The Challenge of Physical Space

While the early data centers could fit in a single dedicated room, the advent of the Internet one made it much harder to find space for all the necessary servers, cables, and other important equipment. Finding the space for all this equipment became a challenge for many companies.

[mdf]

Imho power saving is the biggest challenge as power keeps on getting more and more expensive. We are continually looking how to consume less power that isn't directly payed for so making cooling and UPS's more efficient.

[eilert]

One of the ever increasing challenges for the data center managers is the demand to do more with less. There, managers have fewer qualified staff and less then robust budgets to protect rapidly expanding data volume and a growing a number of mission-critical application.

[gorack]

Starting a data center can be tough, but if you learn how to look, you will find plenty of them around. Depending where you live, they are completely built out but may need some updating. here are the challenges you must consider before starting.

Power - does it provide 480v
backup power - do you have a generater on site
redundant power feeds - are you connected to more than 1 power gride

fiber connectivity - how many provider are in the facilities
nearby fiber- how many carrier come close to your facilities.

[JerH]

Originally Posted by mdf

Imho power saving is the biggest challenge as power keeps on getting more and more expensive. We are continually looking how to consume less power that isn't directly payed for so making cooling and UPS's more efficient.

Yup. Data center power is probably the biggest challenge, or at least how to reduce power consumption. Efficiency is the key to doing more with less. With proper optimization, capacity can be increased in most any space.

[eilert]

Power saving with cheap power supply is big challenge, proper placing of your equipments in limited space with cooling facility makes DC better.

[mdubash]

Getting data in and out quickly and cost-effectively - once you've resolved the power/cooling issues of course - can be a challenge too.

[Nicolas - Modul'Data Center]

I think that we can point out six big challenges :

- High Availability
99,99% Availability (i.e a max. of 52mn yearly)
Centralized control of working parameters and critical alarms
Availability must be sustained at all times
Availability is contingent to an acceptable price in order to be applicable
over most datarooms
...

- Security
Securing the Data Center is key to a safe integrity of Information Systems
Purely physical as well as Systemic aspects must be taken into account
A detailed Risk Analysis is a necessary and foremost step before
attempting any DC Design
Disaster Recovery Plans must be put into force to safeguard processes in
case of failure
Natural and Environmental risks : impact the localization strategy
...

- Upgradability
Exponential increase in power density
High costs are incurred due to a too large room, too powerful Cooling
systems
Lack of vision and control over future IT needs
...

- Connectivity
Quality, IP traffics, and costs of links are critical in choosing the location
of a Data Center
Operators’ Fiber Induction paths must be completely different from end to
end
Peering between operators must be perfectly controlled when selecting
connectivity links
...

- Manageability
The Rooms must be designed by IT professionals in order to be as efficient
and IT friendly as possible (state of the art)
Operational Constraints imply the possibility to expand rapidly without
external intervention
Centralized control of functional parameters and critical alarms
...
- Eco-conception
A well designed datacenter can reduce consumption levels by half achieving
a Power Usage
Effectiveness (PUE) under 1.5 compared to an average of 2.6
Operating Costs must be optimized, known and mastered from the start of
the Project
...

This list is, of course, a non-exhaustive one...

www.modul-data-center.com
www.ipenergy.fr

[sweetgreen]

constant upgradation of the servers on a limited budget, cooling, keeping the system downtime as low as possible