Keeping Data Centers Dynamic

With hundreds and thousands of dollars at stake in every shutdown, what can one do to keep data centers running? Our continuing feature on industries most affected by power interruptions.

The data center constitutes one of the most critical operations of many modern companies. As the amount of information shared within and outside today’s companies increases, the complexity and criticality of data center operations heightens. In fact, the significance of a data center operation is so high that according to the 2011 National Study on Data Center Downtime the mean cost for any type of date center outage is a whopping USD 505,502. Fleshing out the information, the study cites that in a partial outage, the cost of damages amounts to USD 258,129, while in a total shutdown, USD 680,000.

Because the cost of downtime is so steep, availability of IT capacity is usually the most important criterion on which data centers are evaluated. The efficiency of data centers, in terms of both energy and management resources, is also constantly being improved, and research and development efforts of companies industry are increasingly being geared towards refining data center flexibility and cost-effectiveness.  Best practices in data center design, operation and maintenance have also been developed and studied, and huge IT-related companies like Google no less have published tons of literature to spread the most up-to-date knowledge.

Making all the advancement in the data center industry possible is, of course, electricity. The availability of a reliable supply of electrical power has been the driving force of most modern industries, from manufacturing, oil & gas, petrochemicals, mining, transportation to information technology, that a momentary loss of electrical energy can spell catastrophic consequences for them. As was described by the study quoted above, a data center shutdown can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars, and may cause long-term damages and negative consequences not only on equipment, but also on operations and transactions that depend on data centers.

In conjunction with energy efficiency and operational flexibility best practices, hiring the services of temporary power providers can prove to be a beneficial initiative, particularly in cases of emergency. Interim power plants can act as back-up electricity sources in times of natural calamities, like hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis and flooding, which hold the grim possibility of affecting the electrical power supply in the affected areas. In case rental power plants are not yet installed when disasters strike, they can easily be deployed from virtually any point on Earth to another, thanks to their modularity. Once they arrive at the location, they can swiftly be installed and commissioned, owing to their adaptive design and plug-and-play configuration. They are able to supply the exact amount of power needed by the client, as they are flexible and infused with state-of-the-art protection systems.

In terms of finance, utilizing temporary power plants represent cost-efficiency, when compared to the projected amount of losses that can be incurred in cases of data center outages.

I these times of intensified globalization and inter-connectivity among businesses and different industries, data centers play an invaluable part in keeping the information gateway open and beneficial to all parties. As their role amplifies and expands in coverage, protecting data centers from possible blackouts and consequent damages is more vital than ever.

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PRESS INQUIRIES
Robert Bagatsing
Altaaqa Global
Tel: +971 56 1749505
rbagatsing@altaaqaglobal.com