Data Center
Gain a better understanding of emerging technologies and how they can have an affect on the way you do business.
An effective, efficient, and affordable alternative to housing numerous servers on site is to allow a data center to provide server hosting and data storage for your company. Data centers are highly-secure, climate-controlled buildings that hold hundreds of servers. These servers are accessible to a select few technicians that maintain their clients’ networks.
Find out more about our Data Center Services.
A data center is a facility designed and equipped to meet the needs of high-density computing. It contains switches, firewalls, routers, and servers. The servers store data and “serve” files and applications to their client devices. Centralized management enables customers to operate around the clock or as needed.
Data center facility functions may include:
- traditional enterprise services
- on-demand enterprise services
- high performance computing
- internet facilities
- hosting facilities
The intended purpose of a data center facility is for sophisticated computing and server functions.
Data Center Benefits
A data center provides traditional business-oriented benefits like:
- around-the-clock operations
- lower cost of operation
- the maintenance needed to sustain the business functions
- the rapid deployment of applications
- consolidation of computing resources
Ultimately, a data center will help your business in the following areas:
- Business Continuity
- Increased Security
- Application, Server and Data Center Consolidation
- Application Integration
- Storage Consolidation
Data Center Design
The criteria that guide the design of a Data Center are:
- availability
- scalability
- security
- performance
- manageability
The design process consists of choosing among the available options for each function (IP connectivity, application optimization, security, and business continuance) and aforementioned criterion.
Data Center Facilities
To avoid losing critical computing resources, a Data Center facility must make special arrangements to house the equipment, server resource and network infrastructure. The following ensure the stability of a facility:
- Power Capacity
- Cooling Capacity
- Cabling
- Temperature & Humidity Controls
- Fire & Smoke Systems
- Physical Security (Restricted Access/Surveillance Systems)
- Rack Space & Raised Floors
Data Centers provide a centralized location to help support your organizations ever-changing business needs.
Data Center services encompass the following facility-related components or activities:
- IP Infrastructure
- Storage
- Application
- Security and Business Continuance Infrastructure services
IP Infrastructure Services
Infrastructure services include the core features needed for the Data Center IP Infrastructure to function. They serve as the foundation and storage of all the other Data Center services.
Application Services
Application Services include many services that enhance the network awareness of applications and use network intelligence to optimize application environments.
Storage Services
Storage Services include the capability of consolidating direct attached disks by using disk arrays connected to the network.
Security Services
Security Services include features and technology used to secure the Data Center infrastructure and application environments. There are many security targets located in a Data Center, which is why it is important to use a systems approach for security.
Security tools that are used include:
- Access Control Lists (ACLs)
- Firewalls
- IDSs & Host IDSs
- Secure Management
Business Continuance Infrastructure Services
There are three major areas supported by the Business Continuance Infrastructure Services:
- Site Selection
- SAN Extension
- Data Center Interconnectivity