As the world of digital technology continues to grow and advance, IT Managers and Directors—traditionally focused on physical equipment, connectivity, software and applications—are left to figure out how to accommodate the hottest trends in IT within their physical data center environment. Now faced with navigating issues like requirements for additional power, cooling or data center floor space, to support their IT infrastructure, IT staff have had to reset their mindset to a more holistic line of thought which now includes facilities— in this case, data centers.
For instance, the big industry buzz is about the Internet of Things, (IoT) which is the networking of physical objects or “things” digitally with software, sensors and connectivity to enable it to achieve greater value and service by exchanging data with the manufacturer, operator and/or other connected devices. This need for inter-connectivity amongst devices will have a profound and yet somewhat unpredictable impact on IT infrastructure. Although industry predictions forecast a staggering number of ‘things’ that may need to connect and communicate with each in the future, the question is how are IT staff supposed to accurately predict the data center requirement which will be needed in their own organization to address IoT?
Another hot trend is to move IT applications, software, platforms or services to the “cloud”. What no one is talking about is that “cloud” is not a fluffy concept as its name implies but is still physical storage, servers and networking gear sitting in cabinets in a data center or colocation facility right here on planet Earth. The difference is that it is no longer necessarily in a company’s own computer room, but perhaps thousands of miles away—even in another country! IT staff that move services to cloud infrastructure may be sizing down their existing data center footprint and again, with an unpredictable end state in regards to their future need for providing power and cooling to IT equipment.
To be able to keep up with how the forecasted digital future will affect the heart of your IT infrastructure, shifts in thought processes toward flexibility and physical location makes mission-critical facility selection part of the IT holistic view. For example, the need to be able to quickly increase or decrease power, cooling and even physical floor space may be necessary moving forward. Fortunately, multi-tenant colocation facilities are purpose-designed and managed to accommodate the ever shifting needs of the most sensitive critical IT infrastructure.
Just like the thought that goes into the location of your office or brick and mortar store front, the decision on where your IT infrastructure will live, how your assets are protected and interconnected is even more vital to conducting business now and in the future.
