When we think about designing and building a new data center in today’s terms, it is not a simple task anymore. Data center facilities are large, capital-intensive fixed assets and requires enormous amount of thought process in it as designing such facility is fraught with risks and cost. Just like building a home, once you get the architecture and foundation completed, whatever shape and form of the house, you will have to live with it for the next 10 to 20 years; For a data center, once you get the architecture right, you create an asset that will facilitate the rapid launch of your new technologies which will give your business that competitive edge.
One of the reasons why it is so difficult to design a data center is the mismatch of the planning horizons. Data center architects are pushed to design and plan for a data center that will last for at least 20 years. However, IT and technology innovation cycle moves at a much faster pace. So, the mismatch here is that we need to design a facility to support future technologies for 20 years, but our insight into the direction of technology is probably only on the horizon of next two or three years. (more…)
