Given the challenges of the past and the promises of tomorrow, today’s the day to be thinking a lot about moving toward the next-generation data centre. This is a data centre that’s not constrained by aging infrastructure and not bogged down by technology considerations, but instead is built with the actual needs of the business at the heart of all decisions. This article explores some of the reasons why new thinking is necessary, and some of the aspects that make a data centre “next-generation.”

By Olivier Posty,Chief Operating Officer at Dimension Data Luxembourg

The New Realities Driving Data Centre Design

Why is it so critical to make a move toward the next generation data centre? Because too many trends are making the current model obsolete.
To begin with, new users are accessing every organisation’s data in new ways. There are new types of transactional usage every day, involving customers and employees alike who have never had reason to tap so deeply into data centre information in the past.
These new users are accessing data by way of new devices that go far beyond their computers. Their phones are making connections, their tablets, their smart TVs, the onboard computers and GPS systems in their cars, the security and control systems watching over their homes and businesses, their wearable fitness devices, their electric meters, even their refrigerators. As you imagine all of the tasks being accomplished through this growing list of devices, you realise how many more applications and workloads are joining the mix. The various applications tapping into networks and data centres is likely to grow from the tens of thousands to the tens of millions as the so-called “Internet of Everything” imbeds connectivity into everyday objects across workplaces and home lives.
And as all of that change unfolds, it becomes clear that the list of locations tapping into any given data centre is growing exponentially. Users need access at absolutely any time, from virtually anywhere in the world.
Add into the mix the growing recognition of the power of Big Data. The more data that gets aggregated from all of these users and devices, the more ways that data can be crunched and analysed to gain astonishing new insights into health, human behaviour, customer purchasing trends, natural phenomena, economic activity, and virtually any subject of interest.
Big Data, which also tends to be unstructured data, doesn’t play well in the old kind of data centre playground. It doesn’t fit into traditional databases or data warehouse structures, and doesn’t always make sense to standard analytics tools. It takes a lot of next-generation data centre elements to really unlock the power and value of Big Data.

A New Kind of Data Centre

The next-generation data centre is one that has broken free of the traditional definitions and boundaries involving facilities, computing, storage, and the data centre network. It embraces the cloud in a big way to enjoy the benefits of IT as a Service. It recognises that the enterprise network must be a fundamental part of all data centre decisions, because the network is what unlocks all of the possibilities by connecting all of the parts, from the onsite data facilities to the cloud.
It’s not just a data centre, really, but rather a business response centre that rapidly and securely brings new applications to the fingertips of users, wherever they are, whatever device those fingers might be holding. It’s an outreach into new markets, reaching new geographies or new market segments. It’s a new window into the Big Data value of the information you’re collecting, giving you insights into how to better serve customers. And it’s an opportunity to reduce the complexities and burdens facing your internal IT teams, through managed services or IT outsourcing.
Is the next-generation data centre on your premises, in a co-located operation, or in the cloud? The short answer is, “yes.” It may exist in any of those places, and quite likely exists in some combination thereof.
The point is that it’s right-sized and optimised to meet both the ever-changing and expanding needs of business but also the variability of demand in a flexible and cost-efficient way. And there’s a good chance that the portion of the next-generation data centre that’s in your own facility will be smaller than it is now, in terms of both space and hardware costs.

Rethinking the Facility

A next-generation approach to data centre design involves a careful examination of facilities, including the operations there, the opportunities for virtualisation, and the benefits of converged infrastructure. It requires a meticulous examination of the computing resources that will be needed and what form they will take, the amount and location of storage, and the network that allows the various parts to interact with one another. With proper planning, you’ll be able to reduce the complexities of virtualisation, as well as the time it takes for the cost-saving benefits to start paying off.
Where the various aspects of data centre operations are actually located will depend on the nature of your business and data centre requirements, regulatory and compliance questions, and other highly specific parameters. A tiered storage environment should be optimised for your own information and policies. Internet and enterprise network considerations will also help in the planning of how and where workloads will be processed, and the benefits of software-defined networking will play a key role.
A big part of the planning will involve evaluating how the cloud fits in — when to use it, how much to rely upon cloud services, and which kinds of workloads are ideal for migrating to the cloud. The goal is to examine all applications, from legacy applications to those born and bred in the cloud, determine the mix of those applications that will align best with business needs, evaluate where those apps will run most effectively, and move three-tier applications smoothly between the data centre and the cloud as required.
Co-location is an essential part of many data centre designs. The concept involves placing your own assets inside a provider’s data centre, with the provider responsible for infrastructure systems and monitoring as well as the challenges of power and temperature control.
It’s a best-of-both-worlds kind of arrangement, with the added benefit that the co-located facility is likely to be one step closer to the cloud, because the co-location provider often cross-connects with the cloud provider’s infrastructure. That can both achieve more cost-effective networking and help address latency issues between your data centre and the cloud.

A Security Blanket

Enveloping all of the various aspects of the next-generation data centre is an overarching focus on security. The risks to corporate data and customer information are greater than ever before, which is obvious not just to IT specialists but to practically everyone who reads the news.
Security risks are greater for a lot of reasons. To begin with, the bad guys out there are more sophisticated, and they have better resources than ever for carrying out their operations. But the challenge is also greater for a lot of the same reasons driving the move toward next-generation data centres in the first place.
For example, the complexities introduced by all of the new devices that need data centre access also create new pathways for security breaches. The need to achieve greater global accessibility also opens doors to hackers in faraway places.
Unstructured data that can be so valuable for Big Data analysis also poses security threats of its own. It’s more vulnerable to breaches and offers more opportunities for malicious content to find its way into the data centre  It’s important to note that venturing into the cloud — as you’ll do with a next-generation data centre — is not in and of itself an added security risk. Cloud services can be just as secure as onsite resources. Security isn’t a matter of location, but rather the quality of the protective measures.
Even so, when data centre elements are shared between onsite, co-located, and cloud resources, it can be trickier for IT security personnel to keep their eyes on the full picture. That makes it essential to work with reputable providers and partners staffed with the very best security expertise.