Fit for purpose?
As the proliferation of connected devices and the resultant explosion in data volume continue, Hannah Breeze investigates whether or not IT infrastructure will be able to cope
Forecasts suggest there will be almost one and a half connected devices for every person by 2020, sending trillions of gigabytes straight towards the world's 500,000-plus datacentres.
With such a huge level of data, concerns have been raised over whether or not datacentres will be able to cope with the deluge, with many UK channel companies claiming that more investment is needed to avoid increased costs, lower performance and consequently, dissatisfied customers.
The growth in trends such as BYOD and big data has already seen increasing amounts of data sent to datacentres, putting new levels of pressure on them.
Telecoms industry body GSMA believes there will be almost 12 billion internet-enabled devices in eight years' time, while vendor Emerson Network Power estimates there are 509,147 datacentres in existence across the globe. Does something have to give?
Just how fit for purpose is the current flock of datacentres, and what is needed in order to prepare them for the dreaded data deluge?
Recent research from storage vendor LSI suggested that datacentre performance was a key concern, with three quarters of the 412 datacentre managers polled reporting unsatisfactory performance.
David Ellis, director of new technology and services at distributor Computerlinks, said providers can compromise their competitiveness without sufficient datacentre performance.
"Users' performance could suffer with the big rise in end-point devices. The end user gets used to a certain level [of performance] and will not accept it if it goes down," he added. "It is a very competitive market out there, and if one provider cannot deliver what they need, they will simply go elsewhere."
Some 65 per cent of respondents to LSI's survey said they wanted their datacentres to perform between twice and four times as fast as they currently do. Lost revenue, decreased competitiveness and lost customers are some of the concerns they highlighted.
Flemming Andersen, director of Brocade's service provider team in EMEA, agreed that performance can make or break a deal.
He said: "The main impact [on businesses] from SMBs to large enterprises and service providers will be revenue loss and bad customer experience.
"If a datacentre is too slow, has network congestion, or is over-used, it means it starts rejecting the requests. If you access an application to do something and it cannot do it, it is a significant problem. [Datacentres] should offer high performance and availability at all times."
So with performance flagging in some datacentres already, and an onslaught of data thought to be waiting in the wings, what preparations must be made to ensure they can cope?
Scott Bradley, principal consultant for datacentre services at 2e2, believes that investing in new technology can be beneficial.
"The phrase ‘sweating assets' is hated; it just means keeping old rubbish. If you use old legacy datacentre [technology], when you try to bring it into a modern facility, the power, cooling, floor space and weight limit will [not be sufficient] and they will not be able to deal with it," he said.
"I know a company that only realised [that the equipment was too heavy] when it was in the loading bay, and it delayed the installation by six weeks because they had to strengthen the floor."
Although investing in new-generation technologies can avoid the pitfalls of trying to squeeze the life out of older machines, the long-term nature of a datacentre investment means that some firms can be reluctant to jump on each new piece of technology as it surfaces.
Sean Horne, director of EMC's Unified Storage Group in the UK and Ireland, claimed the fast-paced environment of technology refreshes can catch people out.
"[Companies] are sweating their assets already. Economic decline drives innovation, and where we are now, people are trying to make things simple and drive out complication. It is moving so fast now - when people used to have a three-, four- or five-year refresh period, they can now buy something on day one, and in one year, the applications do not suit the infrastructure any longer," he said.
Optimising the experience
Refreshing in stages can help protect the initial long-term investment in older technology, according to datacentre services provider Vtesse's senior product manager, John McDonald.
"We are seeing a lot of datacentres doing stage-by-stage [migration] to equipment that supports high-density data," he said. "There a lot of customers that pay a certain amount [for datacentre services] and will continue to do so; what is the incentive [for providers] to invest? There must be a return. It is a lot of upheaval to move datacentre equipment, it is not low key."
And it is not just trying to maintain the balance between profit and ageing technology that can be problematic for datacentre managers looking to optimise their offerings.
Some are unaware of the functionality of all the equipment already within their datcentres, added Computerlinks' Ellis, who said that although some investment is needed to cope with analysts' predictions of increased data, better management of current facilities can make a lot of difference.
"Although investment is needed, a good place to start is to look at how you can become more efficient straight away by examining your existing technology. Not everyone understands everything about their pieces of kit. [Datacentre managers] should be utilising what they already have - taking some [equipment] out, getting more out of their existing hardware and paring down the things that are not used too much," he added.
Tony Afshary, director of marketing at LSI's Accelerated Solutions Division, thinks user
experience should be at the heart of all decisions made regarding datacentres.
"Datacentres are there to serve people. Customer experience is most important, and it is measured by how much money or business is generated [from them]. Their experience has an impact on the money you make," he said.