Data centers have become the central point to businesses in the digital age, providing reliable, secure computing power for all business processes from internal communications to customer service. They’re built with huge amounts of planning and resources to ensure the facility is able to meet the growing demands for workloads for decades to be. They’re also evolving to function more efficiently and integrate with cloud-based resources.
If a company is able to afford it they can construct their own datacenter. Or, they could opt for a colocation service. Colocation providers provide a variety of benefits however, they restrict a company’s control and transparency of its data infrastructure. This could cause Shadow IT, where employees use cloud-based services without the company’s approval.
A data center housed in the corporate office allows the company to have greater control over their data infrastructure, and to to respond quickly to any issue. It will also provide more uptime and improve productivity since employees can work more easily with minimal interruptions.
Most data centers have several layers of security to protect sensitive information. These include firewalls and intrusion detection systems, backup processes and physical access restrictions such cameras, guards and mantraps. Some fire protection systems use chemical or sprinkler suppression. The server rooms are typically designed to keep hot and cold aisles to stop air from mixing, which can significantly impact cooling efficiency. Some large hyperscalers are now relying on Prefabricated Fabrication (PFM) solutions to reduce construction time and increase safety and quality as well as sustainability in new facilities.
