Risks and aspects of Data Center performance

Today the concept of data centers is widely adopted by most of the information technology firms. During the last few decades the data center industry has experienced various stages of development. The major change it has got is in the tier performance standards.  There is another thing influencing the data center performance is the rapid growth of the IT industry.  With this the risks in the performance of data center are also increased.

Many firms offering the Outsourced NOC services are following the concept of data center but there are some major factors influencing the data center availability. Natural calamities like floods, tornado & hurricanes can effect to the infrastructure. Some more things like human capital, electrical power interruptions, equipment failure related issues and there may be some operational errors by the operators can cause harm to the performance. There are some aspects related to the data center performance.

There are different facets which should be considered while selecting a data center site location such as-Location – in terms of earthquake zone, tornadoes, proximity to highways, railway lines etc. Infrastructure – availability of electricity, power feeders, expansion of utilities and water supply.

Communication – availability of carries, services, security and monitoring.

Staffing – like accessibility, public transportation and housing etc.

Some factors also influence the tier performance also-

Electrical – like power backups, lightning, utility services, UPS batteries & systems and generators.

Mechanical – mechanical plants, flooring and cooling etc.

Support systems – fire alerts, physical security, alarms and monitoring.

Now if we talk about the tier level we have mainly four types like Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 support in a data center. These levels came into existence in the early 1960, 1970, 1980 and 1990 respectively. The Tier 1 data center has superfluous components and paths. These centers can have the cooling part but may be it cannot have a power generator. Whereas a Tier 2 contains the UPS, power components and generator. In a Tier 3 it has redundant capacity components service the site's computer systems. The Tier 4 center has multiple distribution paths serving the site's equipments. It's all components are dual powered & properly set according to the configuration of the site's architecture.

For best availability the tier performance standards are a set of rules and requirements which represents the design and the process of the data center. These performance standards are very important for the growth of these centers and for the clients as well. Most of the Business Server Support and every data center firm should be highly focused on these standards with the latest technologies available in the market.