Destacadas,Data Center
Data Center, what is housing and what are its benefits?
Housing is a service of hosting servers and IT equipment with our information in a state-of-the-art external data center.
16/06/23 18:53
Housing is a service of hosting servers and IT equipment with our information in a state-of-the-art external data center.
Data Center, what is housing and what are its benefits?
A data center is a physical facility in which companies can house and centralize operations and IT infrastructure, with the main objective of securely storing and managing systems, networks, applications and large volumes of critical and confidential data. Undoubtedly, a key factor in driving the increasing digitization of business processes and enterprises.
Over the last few years, the demand for data centers has grown exponentially and, according to figures from Statista, global IT spending is expected to reach $222 billion during 2023 on this item.
A large part of the companies seek to locate them in their facilities, but the trend towards housing is gaining more and more strength, since this service of hosting servers and network equipment in a data center offers multiple benefits.
What is housing?
Also known as colocation center (co-location), it represents a hosting service for servers and network equipment such as routers, firewalls, switches, among others, in a private data center, characterized by having:
- First level network security.
- Flexible and adaptable bandwidth.
- Rented space per U rack unit in shared mode or equipment housing in racks in exclusive mode, up to rooms enabled according to requirements.
- Constant power supply.
- Fully redundant network connections.
- Cooling systems to keep equipment at the right temperatures.
- Early fire detection systems.
- Inert gas fire extinguishing systems.
- Physical access control.
In practice, a company that owns a data center leases space to the user to install its IT infrastructure. Usually, the building has technological innovations that make it suitable for these functions and provides high-quality connectivity (fiber optics), scalable storage capacity, network power and cooling equipment to keep servers at low temperatures.
In addition, the provider ensures information security and infrastructure integrity, through advanced cybersecurity protocols and strict access controls to access facilities, such as biometrics, video surveillance, etc.
7 characteristics to consider when choosing a Data Center
Housing offers companies the possibility of using the provider's professional infrastructure and physically accessing it whenever they wish. This results in a series of advantages for those companies that cannot afford a solution in their own facilities (in situ). The characteristics of a good service are:
1. Provide a quality air-conditioned physical space.
By providing an external physical space to house IT equipment, all the costs associated with the development of an own Data Center are saved, which can be very high in terms of space for construction and infrastructure to ensure the continuous supply of electricity, information security, quality connectivity and air conditioning of the equipment.
2. Provide secure connection services and specialized IT and data management personnel.
By hosting their IT infrastructure in a housing data center, companies benefit from a reliable Internet connection, fiber optic cables, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and high-quality cooling systems. This, coupled with the management of IT and data management specialists, helps to keep the infrastructure up and running and optimize the availability of critical services.
In addition, the housing provides redundancy in infrastructure and power systems, which reduces downtime in the event of power supply incidents or hardware damage. Services will always remain online and available to end users.
3. Have a strategic geographic distribution
This service allows companies to take resources out of their facilities and place them strategically, based on the geographical points where the end users of the applications or data are located. This is very important to reduce latency and provide the right balance between service performance and efficiency in deployment and operations.
4. Ensure physical security of servers
Housing providers place special emphasis on having the best physical security in their facilities and invest in it. As mentioned above, video surveillance and access controls are rigorous, in addition to measures to protect the infrastructure against fire and flooding, as well as climate control technologies to ensure that servers and other IT assets operate in the best environmental conditions, reducing the risk of failure due to overheating.
This, together with the data center's cybersecurity protocols, significantly optimizes the security of the information and systems managed in the servers.
5. Provide resource flexibility for company scalability.
Housing providers deliver virtually unlimited resources, allowing companies to develop large projects and expand their infrastructure to meet their needs or objectives.
Best of all, it is possible to expand services or resources as required, without the need to make large investments, thus avoiding those infrastructure oversizing that end up affecting any data center budget.
6. Deliver support every day of the week
The data center operator continuously monitors the infrastructure housed in its facilities to detect failures in a timely manner. In addition, it provides the lessor with a team of experts to help resolve any incidents, thus ensuring that the servers operate at optimum performance.
It also offers a "remote hands" service, in which data center specialists shut down, restart or turn on equipment according to the client's requirements.
7. Operate with advances in sustainability
Governments, financial markets and corporate customers continually ask data center providers to make their facilities more sustainable. For this reason, they are looking for ways to make more efficient use of the energy and water needed to keep cooling systems and servers running.
By turning to these hosting centers, companies benefit from these advances in sustainability and can therefore reduce their carbon emissions and improve indicators of sustainable development and environmental responsibility.
In short, everything counts, as a strategic location, coupled with the temperature-controlled and dust-free environment offered by professional data centers, drives superior performance across all deployed hardware.
When to implement the housing data center service?
Considering the characteristics and benefits of housing, the service is very convenient for companies that manage their own IT hardware or need to outsource data management and backup, but do not want to be burdened with the infrastructure of a data center.
This may be because they do not have the space, electrical and climate control infrastructure, the personnel to perform maintenance and monitor security protocols, or simply want the advice of an expert to monitor temperature, humidity and other factors 24/7.
Although it is a hosting model suitable for any type of company, it is especially recommended for larger projects and good growth projections, with highly complex systems and applications, as well as a large volume of sensitive data.
If a company chooses housing, it has to choose the service provider very carefully. To begin with, the operator should have a recognized track record in the market, as well as quality certifications and a strategic location. Then, the following factors must be considered:
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Evaluate the costs and calculate the savings effect of the move (optimized rack planning/PUE effects).
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Check whether the network connection is sufficient to reduce latency and maintain service and application performance.
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Quality of air conditioning and power supply.
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Additional services offered by the housing operator.
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Quality of the provider's advice and support in the context of the move, security and potential failures.
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Contract management policies.
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Security protocols.
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Initial sizing and scalability.
The reasons why it is worth knowing and considering this service and how it can help you, is that it allows you to expand your company's IT infrastructure without having to invest in everything that an own Data Center implies, which is a much higher cost than a housing service.
Keep in mind that Latin America is an attractive destination to locate Data Centers and, according to the results of an IDC study, by 2025 it will receive an investment of 7 billion dollars in this type of infrastructure.
Among the many reasons to choose providers with facilities in Latin America are: the strategic location of some countries, the availability of renewable energy and the quality of fiber optic connections.
To choose who you are going to entrust this essential task for your organization, in addition to being a company of trajectory, it must guarantee high standards in all the above points. They should also offer space leasing options per U rack unit in shared mode and equipment in racks in exclusive mode.
It is also important to have more complex hosting solutions with specific requirements, such as hardware encryption, network services, extreme security, planning, cabling and connection to different cloud providers.
Gtd has these measures and complies with high international quality standards, which ensure a first class housing service.