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There
was a time in the past when the number of data centers was
significantly less than it is today. Today almost all metropolitan
cities are fast becoming a data center hub. The reason behind the
mushrooming of data centers is the shift from a paper-based economy
to digital based one. As a result of which data centers, which are
centralized repository housing critical business and operation
support systems for data processing, data storage, and communications
networking became common and essential to ensure business continuity.
The growing use of the Internet contributed to its mushrooming thus
leading to increased energy consumption. When it reached alarming
proportion, the federal government passed the public law 109-431 in
2006 entrusting Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to examine the
rapid growth and energy consumption of computer datacenters.
The
study conducted by EPA brought out many startling facts that if
allowed to continue would jeopardize the future. The study revealed
that in 2006 the data center sector consumed about 61 billion
kilowatt-hours (kWh) (1.5 percent of total U.S. electricity
consumption) for a total electricity cost of about $4.5 billion. This
was double the electricity that was consumed for this purpose in
2000. This accelerated the need for developing solutions for energy
efficiency in this sector. The following are some of these solutions.
Gartner
defines
datacenter
outsourcing as “a multiyear or annuity contract or relationship
involving the day-to-day management responsibility for operating
server/host platforms, including distributed servers and storage. “
It is the process of contracting with a vendor to provide services
ranging from hosting, managing and maintaining an entire data centre
to more distinct tasks such as upgrading servers or backing up data.
The advantages of datacenter outsourcing are cost savings, reduced
capital expenditures, improvement in quality, operation expertise,
risk management, improved service levels, satisfied ever-stricter
compliance requirements, reduced server real estate, and reduced
energy use. The different services include
shared
hosting services,
firewall services, managed servers,
dedicated hosting services,
storage networks, and
disaster recovery services
Datacenter
consolidation refers to the merger of two or more datacenters into a
single facility. When compared to managing multiple data centers.
Managing and maintaining a larger data center is much easier and cost
effective.
Automating
high volume and labor-intensive repetitive tasks help in reducing
costs, increasing visibility and control, reducing errors and
enhancing service levels. Hence, datacenter activities such as
service provisioning, configuration, workloads, compliance and so on
are automated.
It
refers to the creation of a virtual version of a datacenter. Data
center Virtualization helps in reducing operational complexities,
increasing scalability, and enhancing performance.
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