Here
are four strategies to ensure your data center consolidation goes smoothly and
leads to the cost savings and performance improvements you’re seeking.
1. Understand the Real Cost of Data Center Sprawl
First,
it’s important to level set about the costs of not consolidating
data centers, once you’ve identified a need to do so. Because there are costs
associated with the consolidation, it may seem like the alternative
— doing nothing — may actually be an economically viable option.
In
reality, that’s not the case. For one thing, the costs of consolidating are
one-time expenses; once the consolidation is complete, you’ll start enjoying
the savings associated with a smaller data center footprint. But the more
important concern is the potential for loss that exists if you maintain a
dispersed data center footprint after you’ve identified a need to consolidate.
Potential sources of loss include the following:
- Security — The more physical locations you have, the
greater your potential for a security breach. The easiest way to hack a
data center is to walk through the front door and install malicious
software — maybe wearing an AT&T uniform and carrying a
clipboard. In addition to digital security infrastructure, data centers
have to have physical security personnel, which costs money. Then there’s
the potential for a data breach, and, again, the more physical locations
you have, the greater your risk of a breach.
- Personnel — Besides guards, every data center needs
management personnel to maintain machines, fix problems, and generally
ensure that things are running smoothly. Reducing the number of physical
locations you maintain lets you cut your personnel costs.
- Natural disasters — If one or more of your data centers currently
sits in an area prone to flooding, earthquakes, wildfires, or some other
natural disaster, your risk of loss is tremendous. In an era of
increasingly severe weather events, leaving a data center in a vulnerable
location is asking for a major outage. Consolidate to safer geographies to
avoid a major unplanned expense.
Once
you’ve convinced everyone who needs to be convinced that data center
consolidation is not optional, it’s time to consider the logistics of
consolidating.
2. Upgrade Equipment for Greater Efficiency
In
most cases, consolidating your data centers will require you to purchase at
least some new equipment. Making these purchases strategically can help you
minimize downtime and achieve peak efficiency as soon as possible.
The
right strategy, of course, depends on your consolidation plan.
For
example, if you’re reducing the amount of space you take up in a colo facility,
you’ll want to find ways to reduce your total rackspace and the total amount of
traffic you take up on the local fabric. Getting all of your equipment to one
physical area can help achieve this — in that configuration, you may be able to
use the minimal number of switches for all east-west traffic and minimize
east-west traffic on the colo’s fabric.
