Data centres are vital to the everyday operations of businesses, housing their most critical assets. Not only are they designed to be secure and reliable, but made up of a network of computing and storage resources, including routers, firewalls, storage systems and servers.
Modern data centres use technologies like virtualisation, automation and artificial intelligence (AI) to optimise their availability, scalability, security and efficiency. As the need for such facilities becomes more urgent amid an era of rapid digital transformation, data centre use cases are beginning to expand even further.
Data Centre Magazine looks at some of the most significant uses of data centres in 2024.
10. Predictive Maintenance
Predictive maintenance refers to a more preemptive approach to data centre operation by utilising AI technology to predict what needs repairing. According to Deloitte, predictive maintenance is able to increase enterprise productivity by 25%, reduce breakdowns by 70% and lower maintenance costs by 25% – as opposed to reactive maintenance.
A valuable solution for data centre operators, predictive maintenance helps spot when a piece of equipment is about to fail. Industry leaders anticipate it will boast an even greater presence in data centre facilities in the near future.
Have a look at our previous feature on Predictive Maintenance HERE.
9. Security
Security is now a significant factor in the data centre world. It’s crucial for third-party AI data centres to start thinking seriously about their cybersecurity measures, given a data centre cyber attack has the potential to be catastrophic.
Co-founder of US National Cybersecurity Center, Michael Marcotte, told us in September: “CEOs often know little about cybersecurity under their own roof – let alone around highly complex digital infrastructure like external AI data centres. CEOs need to understand them as new vulnerabilities.”
Read our full interview with Michael Marcotte HERE.
8. Power Management
Power management in data centres refers to the strategies and technologies used to optimise electricity consumption and distribution across IT equipment and supporting infrastructure. It involves monitoring and controlling power usage, improving energy efficiency and ensuring reliable operation of servers, storage systems and networking devices.
Now more than ever, data centres are having to work to ensure that their power management is energy efficient, so as to avoid using large amounts of electricity and putting increased pressure on the grid.
Some of the companies that offer data centre power management companies include: Schneider Electric, Eaton and Vertiv.
7. Virtual Desktops, Communications, and Collaboration Services
Virtual desktops can help businesses improve efficiency and productivity, offering a cloud environment for users to access their data and applications from any device. These desktops can be hosted on a central server and provide businesses with greater control over their devices.
Within the context of data centres, this means a pool of computing resources can be accessed on demand, by dividing physical hardware into virtual machines. Virtualisation can also improve the effectiveness of IT systems by tying desktop environments to users, instead of devices.
Example: Google Cloud’s virtual desktop can be a great solution for companies looking to streamline operations, reduce costs, enhance security, and support legacy applications. Other virtual desktops include Citrix, VMware and Workspot.
6. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
A customer relationship management (CRM) data centre is a tool that collects and stores customer information, providing a customisable dashboard to access it. CRM data can include a customer's personal information, including their name, phone number, email and address.
Data centres use CRM systems to manage service level agreements, monitor performance metrics and address issues promptly. This approach helps maintain high customer retention rates for businesses, in addition to identifying upselling opportunities for additional services or capacity.
Some of the leading CRM software vendors include Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, monday.com and Zoho CRM.
5. Web Hosting
Web hosting data centres are physical facilities that store a company's digital data and contain the computing infrastructure needed by IT systems. They contain the computing infrastructure IT systems require such as servers, data storage drives and network equipment.
Additionally, web-hosting services rely on data centres to store and serve websites. These facilities provide the infrastructure needed for the high availability, security and scalability of hosted websites, in addition to offering strong connectivity to ensure uninterrupted service.
See an example of a web hosting data centre below:
4. Colocation
Colocation refers to when a business rents space in a data centre to house their IT infrastructure. Through the use of a colocation service, businesses can enjoy their data needs being taken care of, without having to invest in building and maintaining their own data facilities.
Agreements typically include power, internet connectivity and physical security. These types of data centres may also offer managed services like disaster recovery and security management. Colocation can also be more cost-effective for smaller businesses, as it removes the need to build and maintain a facility.
3. Cloud Computing
Cloud Data Centres often provide companies with a new way to hold servers because they eliminate the need for physical servers. Instead of owning and maintaining a physical data centre, businesses can use cloud computing to access a broader range of technology services on an as-needed basis from cloud providers like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft or Google Cloud.
Organisations, regardless of size, can use the cloud for a range of use cases within the context of a data centre, including data backup, disaster recovery, email, software development and big data analytics, in addition to customer-facing web applications.
2. Data Storage and Processing
Data storage and processing refers to the retaining and processing of data management, enabling the creation of useful information from collected data. Data processing also refers to the classification, computation, coding and updating of data.
Data centres are able to centralise storage and processing to provide benefits such as scalable infrastructure to handle large amounts of data and complex computing. This enables resources to be allocated efficiently, in addition to making maintenance easier. Likewise, data centres can facilitate faster data access and processing, which ultimately enhances business operations and decision-making.
See how data centre storage works across Google data centres in the video:
1. Automation
Data centre automation is the process of automating the routine workflows and processes of a data centre. This includes scheduling, monitoring, maintenance and application delivery. Automation is also aimed at increasing agility and operational efficiency, in addition to reducing the time IT needs to perform routine tasks.
This type of automation is immensely valuable to businesses because it frees up human computational time. It also delivers insights into servers, automates routine procedures, programmes scheduling and monitoring tasks and enforces processes in line with policies.
View some of the leading enterprise use cases of AI in data centres HERE.
To read the full article in the magazine, click HERE.
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