Datacentre is a term that has been much misunderstood over the years. Is it the Comm’s Room or Server Room? Is it a purpose built building or, as technology providers now refer to the concept of “Virtual Datacentres”, is it the hardware appliance real estate i.e. servers, network & storage?
Thus, it is critical to define what should be understood by the term “datacentre”. A datacentre is a specific purpose built building which has been designed and is operated to perform the following core services:
- Space to locate racked ICT equipment with allowance for structured cabling
- Controlled environmentals i.e. humidity and temperature controls
- Controlled and guaranteed power via dual electrical supplies further protected by UPS and Generator
- Physical Tiered security systems
- Fire detection and suppression systems without increasing risk to ICT operations
- High end connectivity to network (WAN/LAN/MAN)
These services are fundamental to an optimised ICT platform in being key in delivering availability, integrity, performance and scalability.
Datacentres, in essence, contain Comm’s rooms and Server rooms and may also contain solutions that are packaged as “Virtual Datacentres” but are in fact a number of racks containing virtualised and shared hardware that is provided on a utility basis.
Datacentre Service Providers who provide specialised skills in this area are probably the clearest means of distinguishing the datacentre from the elements above. Service Providers. via stringent and meaningful Service Level Agreements (SLAs) coupled with tangible and transparent Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) models, traditionally led the ICT industry in terms of introducing the benefits of outsourcing to any business whose core competence was not ICT. Removing single points of failure and introducing single points of contact are endemic to an effective datacentre service and formed the cornerstone of outsourcing frameworks.
The typical first step for most enterprises into outsourced ICT has been the decision to host relevant equipment in locations that demanded levels of service that exceeded their in-house resources. These typically were functions that required high end connectivity to the Internet and availability measured 24/7/365. The typical profiles of a DC customer as a consequence were Search Engines, Online Gaming, Airline Companies and any other transactional type web business. Only the largest enterprises such as Banking and Government bodies considered their own internally run datacentres as a viable option. That has now changed considerably in the last three years with an increasing amount of smaller companies looking to enjoy the benefits of Datacentre and other outsourcing services fro both their public facing and internal systems.
Datacentre Providers developed Network Operation Centres (NOCs), Service Desks, and Monitoring & Alerting tool sets that could be easily modified to support extended outsourcing capabilities. Thus enterprises of all sizes have been able to see enormous business benefit in expanding the remit of datacentre outsourcing by expanding into managed services of the network, server and storage platforms and related applications. A proven operating model with clear economies of scale that in effect allow for flexible improved and guaranteed service at lower cost is an absolute must for any company looking at potential outsourcing and should form part of any ICT roadmap or strategy
An example of this roadmap is a BT Ireland customer Wagerlogic who have had a hosting solution in BT’s Citywest Datacentre in excess of 7 years. During that time Wagerlogic’s business enjoyed year on year growth with corresponding organic growth of the global ICT platforms that were critical to its online business. The scale grew to an extent that a Service Partner was required to migrate from a basic co-location service to providing out sourced centralised 24/7 ICT functions to sustain that growth, improve service and provide tangible cost efficiencies. BT was uniquely placed to tick every requirement that Wagerlogic had so that a true end to end solution was achievable.
Where governance or business need drives such things as accreditation, audibility, and Business Continuity, BT Datacentres can provide the answer through a full portfolio of products, capabilities and all island solutions, with facilities both in Dublin and Belfast. Couple this with the BT local, national and global network reach, expertise in IT Optimisation as well as its Professional and Managed Services to build a true end to end solution with real business benefits.
BT Ireland is uniquely placed in the marketplace given its proven pedigree and experience in networks, datacentres, and management of ICT infrastructure and applications. BT was an early adopter of the ITIL framework supporting both internal and commercial platforms and implemented a group wide programme to achieve ISO 20000 (IT Service Management) accreditation for relevant entities. This accreditation as it relates to the datacentre has recently been renewed for a further 3 years and continues to place the BT Datacentre as the sole provider in the Irish market place with this best of breed certification. Recent investments in the Belfast facility have now increased capacity by 50% and allows for far greater power draws that match market and technology demands
Consolidation & virtualisation, which are the current benchmarks in every CIO’s strategy, are more easily achieved when linked to datacentres. The reality is that apart from the obvious benefits of reduced opex and capex enhanced availability and appropriate use of resources, there are some less than obvious “gothchas”, To illustrate some of the challenges this development brings we should briefly examine the hardware trends in recent years. These trends have meant far greater processing power in much denser presentations, so that a typical rack containing 12 servers with x processing power typically required ~ 2 kW of electrical power will now contain a server blade farm and SAN environment with 30 + physical servers (and many more virtualised) with far greater processing power but will also require 4 times the power and cooling requirements!
Cloud Computing the next iteration of consolidated and virtualised solutions relies on hardware abstraction and “always on available anywhere” technologies that again are ideally situated within a DC context so that both the platform and access to that platform are guaranteed and can flex with the business need.
Only future proofed, well designed and operationally efficient Datacentres can support this type of scale growth that ultimately leads to enhanced utility, flexibility and cost effectiveness.
BT Group operates more than 30 commercial datacentres globally with a reach that extends across Europe, AsiaPac and into the Americas. Utility computing solutions, to be branded BT VDC, based on public and private clouds hosted in BT datacentres in Ireland and throughout the globe and interlinked by BT networks is now no longer a concept and has become a reality that will achieve the key objectives of performance, availability, security, sustainability, efficiency and cost effectiveness which are central to any effective ICT strategy.
Article by Mark Fagan - Head of Datacentre Services
If you would like to discuss the possibilities that Datacentre Services could open up for your business, please contact mark.fagan@bt.com, or call Mark Fagan 00353 86 6013397
More information is available at business.btireland.ie/prod_serve_hosting.html