As we look at all the trends around cloud, digitization, and technology utilization – it becomes very clear as to why we continue to see more demands around the data center. Recent reports from Jones Lang Lasalle show that over the next 12 months, we expect to see user demand for smart data center solutions continue to climb, while operators will feel the heat to deliver more data, faster and more flexibly than ever before.
Their reports also show that data still needs a home, but cloud adoption is shifting which data centers host it, and where. Expect to see even swifter movement to the cloud in the industry’s hub markets, from Silicon Valley and Northern Virginia to London and Tokyo. Already, some major cloud providers are anticipating they will need to triple infrastructure by 2020.
Today, organizations are more reliant than ever on technology to drive business imperatives and opportunities. IT departments must deploy modern infrastructure that supports critical initiatives such as cloud computing, big data, mobility, collaboration tools and social media. However, In many cases IT leaders are recognizing that existing data centers may not suitable for this new era in IT in their current state.
For many organizations, when it comes to data centers the time to act is now. However, new data center construction is risky. Building is expensive and time consuming at a time when IT needs to move quickly and stay within tight budget constraints. In the face of these changes, organizations are also presented the opportunity to put in place a new foundation that will scale properly to meet strong demand and address today’s rigorous requirements.
What should that foundation look like? Does it make sense to build new data centers, expand existing ones, outsource to a colocation provider, or use a combination of approaches?
There are cases to be made for building and buying (“leasing”). Leasing a data center provides an attractive OPEX model, the ability to quickly scale up and down, access to the provider’s space and power, and staffing for 24-hour security and support. However, many enterprises are still deploying internal data centers because of concerns around security and compliance. Plus, building can provide more control.
So… what do you do?
In this whitepaper from Iron Mountain, we examine the critical factors that go into the “build vs. buy” decision for data centers and explore why today’s challenges and opportunities are causing a clear shift toward the “buy” side of the equation.
First of all – you have to define your challenges, considerations, and business outcomes. There are going to be some really good reasons to adopt a colocation versus undertaking an entire data center construction project. As the paper outlines, here are ten situations where a colo may very well make more sense:
- Data center consolidation initiative – reduce data center / hardware sprawl from mergers and acquisition
- Replace end-of-life / legacy infrastructure – stop wasted spend, negative environmental impact, downtime
- Update Inefficient data center design / cost model – increase cost efficiency, reduce infrastructure load
- Address dramatic data growth – structured and unstructured – impacting hardware capacity
- Increased virtualization driving difficult-to-maintain data center power dentisty requirements
- Strong / Unexpected growth in corporate-controlled devices, connected objects, users and applications
- The need to support new cloud initiatives and resource-intensive use cases such as big data / analytics
- Address exacting compliance / eDiscovery requirements that mandate long-term data retention, storage
- Drive customer satisfaction with improved data center / network uptime, even during a natural disaster
- Address unnecessary complexity in managing, scaling data centers
Beyond these ten points, there are four critical factors to that need to be addressed in deciding to build or buy.
Each success factor will provide critical questions to help determine what is available via existing in-house resources and what may mandate outsourced resources from a colocation provider. These factors include:
- Economics of the business and the data center.
- Required staffing and expertise.
- What’s your risk tolerance?
- Compliance and security
Whichever way you go – moving to an advanced data center model requires an unprecedented level of cooperation across the organization. Silos must fall. The required expertise includes facilities, IT, hardware, security, software, and power management. Because of the complexity of this undertaking and potential benefits, organizations with data centers on the path to obsolescence are turning to data center developers.
The right developers — those with experience and expertise — can guide an organization in its quest to reduce capital costs while overhauling existing IT systems. Download this whitepaper today to learn how the most advanced data center developers combine green building design and other advanced data and energy management solutions to significantly reduce energy consumption, thus dramatically improving Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) and Data Center Efficiency (DCE); and revolutionize business as well as data center economics.