The Changing Landscape of Data Centers - Area Development
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The Changing Landscape of Data Centers Identifying the type of data center operator and understanding the purpose of the facility are critical to getting the right information to the stakeholders responsible for making a location decision. Jason Shepard, Managing Principal, Cresa Mission Critical Solutions (MCS) (Data Centers 2015) The high initial capital investment into the building of data center facilities and the long-term costs of replenishing IT hardware and/or infrastructure within these facilities make “them” a popular target for most economic development agencies. The key concept most commonly misunderstood by economic development agencies is who “them” or “they” are. While many economic development teams hope to land the large Internet data center (IDC) projects, the clear majority of data center users are traditional enterprises (EDCs). The first step in targeting this sector is to therefore understand the three (3) primary types of data center operators: Enterprise data centers (EDCs) Internet data centers (IDCs) Third-party operators (3POs) Enterprise Data Centers All companies that have computers and share a central network have a data center. Most refer to it as their “server room” — but this is still a data center. Enterprises typically have their primary data center located at or near their corporate headquarters facility where the IT team is located. They also have some type of back-up data center solution within an acceptable distance (i.e., risk, bandwidth latency, etc.) of the primary data center. If the company or capacity needs are large enough, the data center may become its own stand-alone facility with higher levels of redundancy. It is important to note, however, that there is no direct correlation between employee count and data center size. Because these enterprise data centers (EDCs) house the operations of an organization’s core applications, various levels of redundant systems are installed to prevent against downtime for power, cooling, and bandwidth. We often refer to these types of risk-averse enterprise data centers as “mission-critical facilities.” Internet Data Centers While there may be certain areas within an internet data center (IDC) that require higher-levels of redundancy, these facility types are often filled with highly dense racks of servers performing non–mission-critical functions (e.g., search). Due to the high power capacity demands of IDCs, where redundancy is often made up for in the total number of facilities rather than redundancy within any one facility, Internet data centers tend to concentrate in lowerpower-cost markets with access to multiple fiberoptic routes. Third-Party Operators Third-party data center operators (3POs) build and/or operate data
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