Guide to Data Centres

A Data Centre is a facility that is exclusively dedicated to looking after computers and in turn, the data and programs that are stored on them, such as websites, emails, financial transactions or customer relationship management (CRM) applications. The computers that are usually used in Data Centres are a specialised type of PC used by businesses called “servers”.

But what does a Data Centre do?

Because computers have become such an integral part of most types of business activity, it has become critical to protect them in a secure and well-maintained environment. Any company that has experienced website downtime or has been unable to send or receive e-mails for a few hours, will know how costly it is to their business, both in lost revenue and reduced productivity.

Some businesses still keep their servers in the basement of their building or tucked away in a corner of the post room. This is the equivalent of a bank keeping its cash in an unlocked shed in the car park.

Data Centres not only look after servers with special security measures such as CCTV and 24 hour security guards but also make sure they are kept in the best possible environment by ensuring they are kept at constant humidity / temperature levels and supplied with an uninterruptable power supply, so that even if there’s a mains power failure, your servers – and your business – keep on running.

We’ve got a computer room with all our servers in it. Why should we use a Data Centre?

In assessing whether using a Data Centre makes economic sense, you may want to ask the following questions:

• How much would we save if we consolidated all our servers in one location?
• How much does the space used for servers cost us?
• How much will it cost us if we need to expand our current IT infrastructure in the future?
• What would be the cost to the company if we lost our servers to a power-cut / theft / fire / flood?

The answer to any one of these questions may in itself provide the financial case for using a Data Centre. In addition, there is usually a compelling risk management case as well. Our Data Centre has been designed with security and redundancy of essential services in mind, which means that even if there’s a mains power-cut or a major problem with connectivity from an Internet Service Provider, we have backup systems in place to make sure your servers and IT systems remain online.

What are the advantages of using a colocation provider like 4D Data Centres?

Affordability
Building and managing an in-house Data Centre is extremely expensive. Management, maintenance, infrastructure, equipment and labour, as well as opportunity costs for testing, installing and upgrading equipment, can be reduced dramatically through using 4D’s Data Centre to house your business’s servers. These will be located in secure cabinets (known as “racks”) to which only people authorised by you have access. The racks are housed in a secure data room alongside racks owned by other clients of the Data Centre. This is why Data Centres of this type are often referred to as a “colocation facility”. Use of a colocation facility enables the high overhead cost of a Data Centre to be shared across many companies, making the cost per rack usually well below what it would be if the servers were to be installed in your own premises and it offers a much higher degree of security and reliability.

Increased Reliability and Reduced Employee Risk
The majority of in-house Data Centres employ a customised or bespoke architecture and therefore the original developers and long term staff are typically the only people able to operate and manage the infrastructure. In comparison, 4D Data Centres provides standardised solutions which are faster and more reliable, having been implemented many times over for clients.

Scalability
Many IT-reliant businesses and projects experience very rapid growth and this creates the need for an infrastructure that can be quickly and reliably scaled. Although businesses may have the resources to purchase IT equipment in the quantities required to support this rapid growth, recruiting and retaining the additional IT staff to install, maintain and support this mission –critical infrastructure is not so easy. 4D Data Centres can help to mitigate this risk of scalability by having both sufficient staff resources and technical infrastructure always available for your business to grow.