Data centers began when very large companies realized they needed to manage scattered informational technology (IT) locations better to achieve more efficient data processing and improve data security. Centralizing the processing equipment in a specially designed room and giving remote workstations access through cabling, telephone lines or eventually wirelessly, gave a company the means to better manage and secure critical operational and financial information.

Data centers are information processing operations using state-of-the-art technology to provide secure, cost effective and efficient IT services. They may be setup as businesses offering services for sale or as shared service centers for large businesses.

Large data centers were built to accommodate the phenomenal growth in the use of computers and increased access by diverse groups of people including local and remote employees, customers and Internet users. Rapid changes in technology led to the midsized and smaller companies having problems keeping up with expensive software and hardware upgrades. At that point, the role of large data centers expanded. In some cases, existing excess computer capacity was rented to smaller companies, but eventually businesses formed for the sole purpose of providing information technology services to companies outsourcing information technology functions.

The major requirements for data centers include:

• Secure physical facility
• Structural platforms able to manage weight of computers, storage shelves, and electrical cables
• Housed computer equipment able to meet customer needs
• Ability to expand capabilities to accommodate technological advances
• Space scalability to accommodate future business growth
• Cooling and power capacity that can grow as business grows
• Backup power supplies
• Backup systems for data protection and to prevent data loss
• Upgrade services
• Quality data center management

The main feature data centers offer is cost effectiveness. One of the biggest problems companies face is keeping IT affordable. Since technology changes so rapidly, including areas of security, it is difficult to stay ahead of the curve. IT requires expensive equipment and trained staff to manage and maintain technology. IT budgets can consume ever increasing amounts of human and capital resources. Keeping pace with technology advances is difficult but necessary. Outdated software and hardware are subject to security weaknesses that can threaten a business and impede the ability to be competitive.

The MWBE already having difficulties with cost containment is faced with the need to create sustainable levels of resources for technology reinvestment. Savings in other business functions can be quickly consumed by IT. A data centers offers MWBEs opportunities to access affordable IT services through outsourcing. Other opportunities include:

• Ability to maintain state-of-the-art IT function for competitive advantage
• Redirection of business resources to functions directly benefitting customers
• Access to cost effective IT upgrades that ensure protection of MWBE resources including intellectual property
• Improved service levels within MWBE
• Improved service levels between MWBE and customer
• Increased competitiveness due to ability to meet advanced customer requirements
• Standardized IT function in shared services center
• Developing IT scaling to manage business growth

The companies most likely to develop their own data centers are very large multi-site and usually global businesses. These data centers may be located within the home country, but many are set up as “captive centers,” which are offshore wholly owned subsidiaries. Sometimes the captive centers will also serve external clients while remaining a subsidiary of the parent company. In fact, the hybrid captive center may actually outsource certain services the parent company originally outsourced to the captive. Captive centers also sometimes transform into independent businesses, which then accept external clients in their own right.

The companies most likely to outsource to data centers are mid-sized companies that need to control costs and gain access to technology and expertise to improve competitiveness. They are often poised for growth. The MWBE directing too many resources to IT may find the data center is an excellent alternative.

One of the issues data centers face is achieving energy efficiency. IT systems run 24/7/365, and include servers, storage devices, power supplies and network equipment. The typical data center uses between 100 to 200 times more electricity than equivalent typical office space. As a result, the new data center designs must balance energy efficiency with the need for reliable and efficient high power density capacity.

Optimizing environmental sustainability can be accomplished in a number of ways. The details are beyond the scope of this article, but they include facility design, equipment selection and procedures influencing how much equipment is used and for how long. For example:

• Design principles – designing energy efficient air management that includes a raised floor; installing high efficiency cooling systems able to handle current and future electrical loads; installing electrical system able to adjust to high and low load conditions; designing efficient venting system; incorporating vertical power scalability for growth.

• Equipment principles – using energy efficient processors, servers and power supplies; choosing equipment capable of handling virtualization

• Procedures – instituting energy management procedures that effectively meet varying system demands including peak times; grouping equipment together that has heat load densities that are similar

These are certainly not all of the ways to optimize energy efficiency and develop a ‘green data center’ – just a sampling. Yet the outsourcing MWBE using a green data center can leverage its use in company marketing efforts to attract environmentally concerned clients.

This leads to another point. Data centers offer MWBEs in the technology industry new markets for products and services like consulting services, software development, hardware sales, and green technology products, as well as contracted services for everything from specialized cleaning services to equipment and software maintenance.

Data centers have been around a while, but they are undergoing a transformation of their own as the latest technology is implemented. IT is a highly specialized industry and trying to maintain an in-house data center or duplicated services in multiple locations can drain a MWBE’s financial resources. In many cases, it makes more strategic sense to let the experts manage the IT function and for business management to focus on customers.