Services

Data Centre Relocation / Consolidation

A Data Centre Relocation can be one of a company’s most complex and challenging endeavors requiring a thorough Business Risk Assessment for success. When relocating all the IT equipment such as servers and storage from one datacentre to another it is necessary to understand the distance apart, how long the transporting process is expected to take and how long the equipment is expected to be unavailable from start of shutdown until fully operational at the destination site. This expected outage time frame must be compared to SLA requirements and maximum outage time available to each application to start the planning process.

Applications which are required to be operational 7 x 24, and which do not have existing redundancy are at high risk of failure under normal operating conditions and require additional hardware to be purchased for the relocation and to satisfy production SLA requirements.

In other cases, and subject to the maximum allowable outage window, the equipment can be moved if the relocation timeframe from equipment shut down to operational status meets the maximum allowable outage window. If not, the relocation will have to be accomplished through a backup and recovery scenario using cloud services.

The risk to the business must be clearly defined and mitigated prior to the start of the relocation to ensure no unnecessary interruptions in business processes and the ability to continue serving the customer.

Data Centre Consolidations help eliminate redundant and less efficient operations, as well as reduce maintenance expenses. Furthermore, advanced data centre solutions can give organizations a true picture of the total cost of ownership for their critical facilities. For organizations revisiting their data centre strategy, we’ve summarized four key benefits of data centre consolidation if their DR location is adequately removed from their production sites.

First, consolidating data centre facilities offers the ability to enhance operations, improve redundancy and flexibility, deliver higher availability and better use of IT assets. By streamlining your critical infrastructure, firms can do less with more, ultimately helping improve the end-user experience. Keep in mind and mitigate the potential impacts of delays on customers and personnel.

Second, increased energy efficiencies can be achieved through hardware refreshes during a consolidation program by right-sizing to more energy efficient platforms. Transitioning to newer infrastructure typically results in lower electric bills. This can deliver direct savings to an organization, allowing for reallocation and reinvestment of capital.

Third, reducing your data centre footprint enables centralization of data centre infrastructure, which strengthens security and streamlines management. Reducing the size of your critical infrastructure helps reduce the attack landscape and scope of security for your organization. Consolidation also helps reduce risk by eradicating outdated, end-of-support platforms, mitigating opportunities for system failure.

Fourth, consolidations help eliminate redundant and less efficient operations, as well as reduce maintenance expenses. Furthermore, advanced data centre solutions can give organizations a true picture of the total cost of ownership for their critical facilities.