Optical Networking, Redefined.
July 18, 2016

Protecting Your Data Center

Data centers are undoubtedly a vital part of an organization’s daily operations for communications, technology, and media organizations. The National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts projects that the data center sector could double in size over the next several years. As data centers continue to emerge as an integral part of business operations, mitigating risks should be a priority focus. There are many areas of potential risk in data centers. Data centers need significant infrastructure support, backup power systems, cooling systems, and fire suppression systems. Further, building renovations can result in the discovery of groundwater contamination or hazardous building materials. Such discoveries can result in costly liabilities or insurance claims.

Businesses depend on IT infrastructure provided by data centers 24 hours a day, every day so that customers may have these services available when they are needed. The ability to provide and maintain a well-functioning data center relies on how well the facility is managed on a daily basis. Proper safeguards to protect infrastructure critical to business operations protect against:

  • Accidents that have the potential to damage the data center.
  • Possible workplace injuries.
  • Risks to the organization from periods of downtime that impact both the data center or the customer’s business continuity.
  • Organizations that house their primary networks or backups offsite should ensure that there is a proper risk management system in place that takes into consideration the data supply chain that the service provider is responsible for. Possible third-party risks (service interruptions, damage to property, data security) or liabilities should be taken into consideration as well as first-party risks that could include direct losses such as business interruptions or equipment breakdowns.
  • Proper staff training and clearly defined policies and procedures are a key in keeping a data center running efficiently and avoiding outages. With the proper application of procedures in practice, the risk of downtime can be minimized and the risk of exposure limited. 

For more information on optical transceivers or data centers, please contact us today.