The Eighteen (18) Elements of the Comprehensive Data Center Solution, this week we feature Elements 7-10:
7) Migration / Relocation
A. Move existing or buy/lease new?
B. Asset swap outs – seed equipment
C. General hardware life cycle ± 3-4 years?
D. Maximize uptime
E. Multiple phases
F. Consolidation strategies
G. Physical cost vs. planning costs (Larger)
H. Impacts of the network
I. Move it? – Plan to migrate back? – Resume update!! DANGER!!–Bowling tournaments-Fly Fishing-General Retirement?
J. Risk of Move Existing Co-location Cloud
8) Computer Software
A. Continues emphases on large scale corporate “procurement” effort to leverage one (1) license where possible
B. Production (Critical) vs. Non-Production Software
C. SPOF Consideration
D. Examples: Patient Care Pharmacy Surgical Banking Stock Trading Grading Diagnostics
E. Data Analytics – TREMENDOUS! 2017 and Beyond F. Tier I-IV Applications – Candidacy
9) Modularity / Scalability / Reliability
A. Optimize Computer hardware Computer software Telecommunication (network) Facilities Service level agreements Disaster Recovery Cloud/Co-location/Container Scale with growth!
B. Defray CAPEX/OPEX dollars until needed across the board
C. Scale without interruption D. Reliability past/present/future E. In house vs. outsource
10) Communications / Network – Dominating 2017 and Beyond – #1 Factor Dominating
A. Redundant / isolated paths?
B. Multiple carriers
C. Data breach? Who pays? Significant dominant focus 2016 / 2017
D. Data security? Who is responsible?
E. – Hillary Clinton Server – “Chinese and Russians have everything anyhow” – WOW! – Classified Top Secret Emails? – “Pokémon”
F. The power of the cloud – iPhone®
G. Impact of network loss
H. Who manages the network?
I. Dominating the news media 2016/2017
Copyright © 2016 BRUNS-PAK 2016. All Rights Reserved.
The Eighteen (18) Elements of the Comprehensive Data Center Solution. Elements 11-13
11) Service Level Agreements
A. Internal vs. external (client) based
B. Government imposed guidelines/performance (i.e. HIPPA, etc.)
C. Co-Location / Cloud – 2016/2017 transformation – fine print – who pays? – how much? – damages (Legal Beagles 2016/2017!!)
D. What does 99.999 availability mean to me when “I go down?”
E. Example – 3rd Party Provider – Contract 99.999 (32 seconds?) – What if I go down – Your Risk!!!
F. See Part III
12) Personnel
A. Employee vs. contract personnel
B. Data Breaches
C. The Staffing Costs
D. Why Not Outsource? Share Personnel Costs with Others Share Benefits E. Wiki Leaks
13) CAPEX vs. OPEX
A. CAPEX – Capital dollars spent to build/deploy data center across (18) elements
B. OPEX – Operating dollar “expense” to financial statements – very attractive
C. New trend of internal “OPEX” data center solution 2016 / 2017 / 2018
D. Cloud/Co-location OPEX?
E. Migration Cost – OPEX
F. Relocation Cost – OPEX
G. Network (Recurring) Cost – OPEX
H. Seed Equipment – CAPEX or OPEX
Copyright © 2016 BRUNS-PAK 2016. All Rights Reserved.
September 2017
Dear Data Center Decision Maker:
Today’s “data centers” run the gamut from traditional large-scale facilities for business computing to web-scale IT and cloud-based applications. Think one design/build firm can’t handle all of your data center needs? Think again.
BRUNS-PAK has been designing and building data centers for over 37 years. And our services have kept pace with the changing face of your data center and the evolving IT needs of your business. Our team of IT and facilities professionals provide a total technology solution. We offer data center infrastructure evaluation, design, and implementation to deliver the secure, cost-effective, efficient, and scalable storage platform you need. What’s more, we provide IT strategic planning and implementation services to provide the comprehensive support you need to ensure your technology investment is delivering exceptional business results. You see, over the years we’ve learned that IT/computing/storage and the infrastructure needed to support them go hand in hand.
The bottom line? BRUNS-PAK can help you get to the heart of your cost and performance concerns and create the secure, cost-effective, scalable enterprise your current and future IT operations depend on. J&J, CVS, Dell, Darden Restaurants, CSX, Nielsen Media, University of Miami, Great West Life, Harvard University, Tyson Foods, and University of Virginia are just a few of our clients that have utilized our IT methodology and approach for their modular/scalable data center ‘hybrid” solution. Our 37 years on the front lines of data center evolution enables us to work with you on any challenge:
·Need to ramp up or scale back your traditional data centers? Check.
·Considering ambient air systems to decrease energy costs? Let’s talk.
·Looking at a “hybrid” approach to decrease your operating costs and increase scalability and responsiveness? We’ll find the mix that’s right for you.
·Need to understand the real, long-term costs associated with migrating all or specific workloads to the Cloud? We can help.
·Want enhanced protection against data breach? We’re on it.
·How about help mining your data and turning it into actionable business processes or new products or services? Done.
Now more than ever BRUNS-PAK is equipped to help you create an enterprise that is agile, secure, and cost-effective. Think about it. Under one roof – with a total technology solution – we can provide you with IT planning and implementation as well as facility infrastructure planning, design, construction, and commissioning. Working with BRUNS-PAK brings you reliable options, alternatives, and cost projections to support your decision making and a proven partner when it’s time for implementation.
To find out how the BRUNS-PAK total data center technology solution can support you, call Paul Evanko, VP of Sales and Marketing, at 732-248-4455/888-704-1400 or email us at pdevanko@bruns-pak.com. We look forward to discussing your 2017 data center and IT strategy initiatives and supporting your IT/Facilities/C-level team in developing your optimized data center “hybrid” solution.
Containers, Government/Corporate/University/NonProfit and Legal Repercussions to consider in the Eighteen (18) Elements of the Comprehensive Data Center Solution
14) Containers
A. Speed to Market?
B. Regulatory Agency Review – AHJ Temporary vs. Permanent
C. Cost of Pre-Fabricated vs. “Stick Build”
D. ADA Compliance
E. Remove World Quality Control Issues
F. High Performance Compute vs. Work Flow
15) Government/Corporate/University/Non-Profit
A. Data Center Global Initiatives
B. The Impact/Goal of Being “Green”
C. Government Regulations to Continue to Roll-Out Regarding “Data” Safety Security Liability Storage
D. The Role of Downtime
E. Parallel – The “Drone” Legislation
F. “In the News” Highlights each evening
16) Legal Repercussions
A. The most dominant theme of 2016 / 2017 data center optimization impacting in house vs. outsource
B. The 2016 “Reaction” of 3rd Party Provider “Contracts” (i.e. Cloud/Co-location Companies) to the Liability Issue – Example: $35 per sq. ft. per month to $350 per sq. ft. per month – Trend
C. Government fines – No More “Life Lock” – Good Luck!
D. Stockholder lawsuits
E. Individual lawsuits
F. Fiduciary responsibility
G. “Non-disclosed” trends
H. Mark Evanko – Data “permanently borrowed – see limited law school” – disqualified mortgage?
Copyright © 2016 BRUNS-PAK 2016. All Rights Reserved.
The Eighteen (18) Elements of the Comprehensive Data Center Solution
The last two elements that Mark Evanko outlines in his presentation focus on Cybersecurity and Compliance. Cyberattacks target business, no matter the size and companies today even need to protect their vendors and third parties as well. International Data Center projects, such as storing data in the countries near the customers to which it belongs is a trend worth learning more about in this article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/12/business/apple-china-data-center-cybersecurity.html?mcubz=3
See bullets below from Mark’s presentation. This information is to educate one another about the kind of Cybersecurity attacks that occur against enterprises and the key element of compliance so that enterprises can protect their operations within the latest guidelines.
17) Cybersecurity – 5 Types of attacks evolving
A. Malicious messages that really look like the real thing.
B. Ransomware moves into the cloud and onto your phone
C. Point of sale attacks
D. Targeting the “1%” individuals – wealth – DANGER! Tommy Lawrence, Robert Sharp, Paul Brandenburg!
E. Espionage and cyberwar
CNA HARDY
18) Compliance – Data protection compliance – 5 points
Personal information protection and electronic documents act PIPEDA
A. Seeing the personal information
B. Collecting the record
C. Considering a complaint
D. Filing a complaint
E. Going to court – SSAE Standards A. SOC 2 Type 2
1. Security
2. Availability
3. Processing integrity
4. Confidentiality
5. Privacy
Jatheon Email Archiving Blog
Copyright © 2016 BRUNS-PAK 2016. All Rights Reserved.
What it means to us to be a Thought Leader in Data Center Industry? Mark outlines the vision that we at BRUNS-PAK extend to our clients. His ideas about key elements that are required to develop a successful data center solution for today’s complex enterprises has been a model that we copyright and protect. He shares these ideas at conferences and shows around the country each year so that more and more organizations can identify their needs and get the assistance they need. Hopefully this leads to a close working relationship that continues over time. In our experience, watching Mark present at shows….he educates and then empowers Data Center Decision Makers with a solution that they helped identify. Let us put your organization Data Center ahead of the curve, hope to see you in the audience at one of Mark’s upcoming Speaker Engagements!!
Tuesday, October 17
3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Breakout B:
Data Center Enterprise Transformation 2018 with Cyber Security (session)
Mark is the principal and one of the founders of BRUNS-PAK. BRUNS-PAK’s 37+ year/5500 project experiences in design/building high technology data center projects serve as the basis for the evolution of the ultra-reliable facility. Mark continues to actively participate as a BRUNS-PAK project director integrating facilities with information systems in developing technically proficient solutions.
http://conferences.7x24exchange.org/fall2017/speakers/
Here is a great throw back to an article posing the questions:
Should your enterprise own its data center?
Would it be better to use the services of a hosting or collocation company?
Does the emergence of cloud computing make this decision easier?
See the full article below and then reach out to us to see how we can help with moving you into a 2018 Data Center solution and reach maximum capabilities!
Oh and Cheers!! its Friday!!
Good Morning!
Does the level of Information and Cyber Security you have from your Data Center need immediate consultation and improvement? We have outlined, in the link below, the levels of Reliability you may be experiencing. We can use this as a simple map to see where your facility’s Data Center is currently operating and where you need/want it to be! Check it out and request info. Have a great day!
https://www.bruns-pak.com/resources/data-center-reliability-levels/
Our President and Principal Engineer, Mark Evanko has recently presented his Presentation, Data Center: In House – Outsource –Optimize Options at AFCOM 2014. We would like to highlight some major points here on our Mission Critical Data Center Blog. For a complete breakdown of each “Element” and more in depth information, visit our Presentation and White Papers page and sign up to gain complete access to the presentation!
Defining the Mix of “Elements” (16) Considered in the Data Center Solution
1. FACILITY INFRASTRUCTURE
2. ENERGY EFFICIENCY
3. COMPUTER HARDWARE
4. CLOUD Internal/External
5. DISASTER RECOVERY
6. CO-LOCATION
7. MIGRATION/RELOCATION
8. COMPUTER SOFTWARE
9. MODULARITY/SCALABILITY /RELIABILITY
10. COMMUNICATIONS/NETWORK
11. SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS
12. PERSONNEL
13. CAPEX vs. LEASE/OPEX
14. CONTAINERS
15. GOVERNMENT/CORPORATE/UNIVERSITY/NON-PROFIT
16. LEGAL REPERCUSSIONS
A Combination of Data Efficiency Technologies Provides Ways to Optimize Primary Storage Capacity and Performance
It’s no secret that growth in data is expected to remain rampant for many years to come. According to the InformationWeek “State of Enterprise Storage 2014” survey, IT is dealing with 25% or more yearly growth at nearly one-third of all companies. Furthermore, budgets are strained, with 1 in 4 stating they lack the funds to simply meet demands.
As a result, IT directors around the globe are struggling with decisions concerning the handling of both primary and secondary data storage. Ideally, they need the ability to store and manage data that consumes the least amount of space with little to no impact on performance. With real-world budgets in play, optimizing performance via high-priced flash-based solutions will continue to be a fantasy for most. As a result, reducing storage needs can be an integral part of the equation for most organizations.
Data reduction technologies like deduplication, compression, and thin provisioning can reduce data sets by 25-90% and are designed to offset growth by storing more data per storage device. Provided that IT administrators consider data type and the functionality of each technology, these technologies can provide considerable benefits.
Data deduplication works by replacing duplicate data across many files with references to a shared single copy. The percentage of organizations using deduplication increased from 38% in 2011 to 55% in 2014. On average, more than half of the total volume of a company’s data is in the form of redundant copies. Deduplication technologies can reduce the quantity of data stored at many organizations by more than 25x on some data types. Storing less data requires fewer hardware resources, which in turn consumes less energy.
However, not every data set or environment is suitable for deduplication. When used for data sets with large amounts of static data, it can yield significant storage savings. If used for the wrong type of data, performance issues will arise. It is necessary for IT administrators to understand how specific data sets will respond to data deduplication and use it only where the benefits exceed the costs. Deduplication is particularly effective with unstructured data sets (like home directories and department shares), virtual machines and application services, virtual desktops, or test and development environments.
Data compression is a process in which algorithms are used to encode a single block of data to reduce its total physical size, thus providing a storage savings. As with deduplication, data compression has been well integrated into backup systems for many years. Now those benefits are available for primary storage data systems. In fact, a recent survey revealed that roughly 33% of IT administrators are benefitting from data compression on the primary side. Space savings from primary storage compression have been estimated at 15 to 30%.
As with data deduplication, compressing data has potential performance pitfalls, and IT administrators need to understand how to best utilize it for maximum efficiency. Benefits of compression are most often associated with relational databases, including online transaction processing (OLTP), decision support systems (DSS), and data warehouses. Savings diminish with unstructured and encrypted data sets. A key factor for success is the number of compression algorithms provided by the storage platform.
The final strategy, thin provisioning, is not technically a data reduction technology, but does provide an efficient, on-demand storage consumption model. In the past, servers were allocated storage based on anticipated requirements. In order to avoid performance issues if these limits were exceeded, over provisioning of storage normally resulted. Thin provisioning allocates storage on a just-enough, just-in-time basis by centrally controlling capacity and allocating space only as applications require the space. Thus you can allocate space for an application with data storage needs that you expect to grow in the future, but power only storage that is currently in use. A recent survey revealed that 39% of IT administrators use thin provisioning today, up from 28% in 2012.
In the end, the ultimate goal of data efficiency is to remain transparent to the user while providing tangible benefits like managing growth and reducing overall storage costs. When implemented simultaneously, these three technologies produce peak results. If used appropriately, they will enable organizations to repurpose data center resources and add decades of new life to resource-constrained data centers.
