Computerworld -
This year marks the 11th anniversary of the 1,200-square-foot data center at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering -- that means it's been in use four years longer than CIO and vice president of operations Joanne Kossuth originally expected. The facility needs more capacity and better connectivity, but Kossuth has been forced to put those needs on the back burner because of the state of the economy.
"Demand has certainly increased over the years, pushing the data center to its limits, but the recession has tabled revamp discussions," she says.
Like many of her peers, including leaders at Citigroup and Marriott International, Kossuth has had to get creative to squeeze more out of servers, storage and the facility itself. To do so, she's had to re-examine the life cycles of data and applications, storage array layouts, rack architectures, server utilization, orphaned devices and more.
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Computerworld - This year marks the 11th anniversary of the 1,200-square-foot data center at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering -- that means it's been in use four years longer than CIO and vice president of operations Joanne Kossuth originally expected. The facility needs more capacity and better connectivity, but Kossuth has been forced to put those needs on the back burner because of the state of the economy.
"Demand has certainly increased over the years, pushing the data center to its limits, but the recession has tabled revamp discussions," she says.
Like many of her peers, including leaders at Citigroup and Marriott International, Kossuth has had to get creative to squeeze more out of servers, storage and the facility itself. To do so, she's had to re-examine the life cycles of data and applications, storage array layouts, rack architectures, server utilization, orphaned devices and more.
Rakesh Kumar, an analyst at Gartner, says he's been bombarded by inquiries from large organizations looking for ways to avoid the cost of a data center upgrade, expansion or relocation. "Any data center investment costs at minimum tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions, of dollars. With a typical data center refresh rate of five to 10 years, that's a lot of money. So companies are looking for alternatives," he says.
While that outlook might seem gloomy, Kumar finds that many companies can extract an extra two to five years from their data centers by employing a combination of strategies, including consolidating and rationalizing hardware and software usage; embracing virtualization; and physically moving equipment. Most companies don't optimize the components of their data centers and therefore bump up against their limitations faster than necessary, he says.
Here are some strategies that IT leaders and other experts suggest using to help push data centers farther.
Relocate Noncritical Data
One of the first areas that drew Kossuth's attention at Olin College was the cost of dealing with data. As one example, alumni, admissions staff and other groups take multiple CDs worth of high-resolution photos at every event. They use server, storage and bandwidth resources to edit, share and retain those large images over long periods of time.
To free the data center from dealing with the nearly 10 terabytes of data that those image files represent, Kossuth opened a corporate account on Flickr and moved all processes surrounding management of those photos to the account. That not only eliminated the need to buy a $40,000 storage array, but also alleviated the pressure on the data center from a resource-intensive activity.
"There is little risk in moving non-core data out of the data center, and now we have storage space for mission-critical projects," Kossuth says.
Offsite Options
When in Doubt, Move It Out
If all else fails and it looks like you are going to max out your data center, don't be afraid to move servers, software or storage off-site. Options abound for picking up the slack, and they might even give you enough leeway to squeeze several more years out of your current data center. Here are some possibilities:
1. Head to the cloud. Companies like Amazon, HP, IBM and Oracle all offer cloud-based services that enable you to boost computing capacity when needed. For instance, if you have a seasonal project that would push your internal data center to its limits, you can temporarily lease server resources from a provider. This will meet your short-term needs without forcing a long-term investment.
2. Roll in a pod. If building out or relocating your data center is out of the question, a pod might be the answer. Cisco, HP and Silicon Graphics International are among vendors offering portable data centers. These self-contained units can boost your overall capacity without the expense of a massive construction project.
3. Say hello to colo. Colocation is nothing new in the world of data centers. However, it can be your best friend if you're trying to avoid an overhaul of your existing site. By transferring some of your infrastructure to a provider's site, you can free up valuable floor space, and power and cooling capacity, but still maintain control of your hardware and software.
— Sandra Gittlen
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