Data Center: Needs and Benefits

We live in a hyperconnected world in which we generate thousands of data points every day in each of the activities we carry out. For the devices we use to work properly and be useful to us, this data must be stored and processed, which requires physical infrastructures that support digital activity: data centers.

What is a data center?

A data center is a physical infrastructure that houses the IT equipment required for large-scale storage of applications and data, as well as the technological means that support them. By definition, we can infer that they have become a core tool for companies.

Data centers contain servers, connections, switches, ventilation and cooling systems… that enable the processing of data from the countless electronic devices we use in our daily lives. Computers, mobile phones, tablets, sensors, cameras, and other digital devices send the information they capture to these data processing centers for storage. Today, without a large repository—internal or external to the organization—it would not be possible to carry out most day-to-day activities in organizations in any sector.

Moreover, artificial intelligence, data science, all technology associated with business intelligence, and the necessary path companies have embarked on toward digital transformation have exponentially increased the volume of data captured and processed, which will reach 149 ZB in 2024, according to the Statista portal.

What services does a data center offer and how does it work?

As noted above, data centers provide storage and backup support for business activities. They are therefore critical infrastructure for managing organizational information and must meet certain standards for operation and security.

In this regard, they offer users services related to the aforementioned storage structure, through which company data is hosted and managed; the network infrastructure, which connects stored data with the end user; security protocols to guarantee the integrity of the safeguarded information; and the technological structure—that is, the differentiating resources between data centers, such as processing speed, connectivity, or storage capacity.

Data centers also have qualified staff to maintain this type of infrastructure, offering users the assurance of promptly addressing unforeseen issues or system failures.

Types of data center

There is a classification of data processing centers based on fault tolerance, which divides them into four categories (Tier 1–Tier 4), with the first offering the best reliability and the last being the most secure. However, in this post we will focus on another classification, also with four categories:

1. Enterprise or on-premises data center: data centers built by the company itself and located on its premises. Their management is therefore internal.
2. Colocation data center: the organization rents the data center from a provider of this service, while the organization itself manages the infrastructure.
3. Managed services data center: the company also rents the data center from a third party who, in this case, operates the service on behalf of the contracting entity.
4. Cloud data center: in this type of data center, applications and data are hosted in the cloud, whether public, private, or hybrid. As digitalization advances, cloud storage is gaining followers, with services from major multinationals such as Microsoft Azure or Amazon Web Services (AWS).

Benefits of external data centers

1. Higher service quality: external data centers are continuously updated and monitored.
2. Connectivity: specialized external providers have fiber-optic networks and connections with major operators, enabling high-speed connectivity with guaranteed availability.
3. Security: Specialized data processing centers are located in strategic places and have infrastructures designed to protect servers from fires, floods, earthquakes, or sabotage, for example. They also have uninterruptible power supplies to prevent outages and restricted access measures, as well as protection against cyberattacks. In addition, locating the data center outside the company’s premises protects it against physical or digital theft due to server breaches.
4. Lower cost: data center management companies enable cost savings due to the volume of client organizations. The unit costs of maintaining a data center for a single user are not the same—consider only the staff assigned to maintaining the infrastructure.
5. Scalability: scalability is one of the major advantages of external data centers. The company meets its needs in line with the moment, and can increase capacity when its activity requires it.
6. Specialized professionals: companies that provide data center services have staff specifically qualified to carry out maintenance tasks and to safeguard the data that enters the servers.

Data centers: the backbone of organizations

As we have seen, the main value for companies today is their data. Collecting, processing, and leveraging it is now essential to remain competitive in a globalized market. The information businesses provide is vast, and hyperconnectivity continues to grow with the development of new technologies, making data centers a central component of organizations.

Big data is a core asset for any organization, and its management is a challenge in which data processing centers play a central role.