Selecting a data centre – making the right outsourcing decision

The way in which we consume, store and process data is changing all the time. Whether you're a start-up, a small or medium-sized business, or a global corporation, your company's data is at the heart of your operations. And because of this, data centres are the engines that power businesses and are critical for storing and managing the flow of the world’s exponentially increasing data volumes.

According to estimates from Seed Scientific, we create roughly 2.5 quintillion bytes of data every day. With the growing popularity of IoT (Internet of Things), this data creation rate will become even greater. There are approximately 44 zettabytes of data in the world in 2020. Given how much data is created every day, there will likely be 175 zettabytes by 2025 (an increase of nearly 300%).

It is therefore perhaps no surprise that organisations are increasingly turning to off-premise data centres when they acknowledge that they can no longer effectively support their infrastructure in-house.

Business-critical IT systems are the lifeblood of any organisation and entrusting them to a third party can be worrying. Organisations need to be sure that they have full confidence in their data centre partner to mitigate the concerns associated with moving their IT off-premise.

Security is always a top priority for data centre operators, and with good reason; any security breach could have serious implications. It is becoming increasingly hard for on-premise data centre facilities to ensure the physical, logical and operational security required, as well as the protection against cyberattacks, which are becoming ever more common in an increasingly interconnected world.

Resilience is another key concern for data centre operators who need to be prepared for natural disasters or other disruptions that could impact their operations. This means having robust backup power and cooling systems in place, as well as ensuring that data is replicated across multiple locations.

Efficiency. In an era of continually rising energy costs, it is important to have systems and processes in place that maximise the use of resources, improve infrastructure and use more efficient cooling methods, like the adiabatic cooling system we use in our facility.

Future proofing. The data centre of the future needs to be a dynamic, adaptive and intelligent environment that is able to respond to the ever-changing needs of organisations. Next-generation technology will enable data centres to be more flexible, efficient and cost-effective, while providing the agility and scalability to meet the demands of tomorrow’s digital economy. On-premise facilities are often constrained by their physical infrastructure, a reliance on legacy systems, a limited ability to scale up, and a lack of skilled staff with specialised skills and knowledge to respond to new demands.

Service, support and communication: many organisations justifiably worry that migrating their IT off-premise could mean they don’t have visibility of problems until it’s too late, particularly if the data centre is some distance from their business premises. But outstanding service and support mitigates the need for immediate proximity to the data centre facility and provides assurances that IT estate and workloads is in safe hands.