Data Center Consolidation Strategies
Data Center Consolidation consists of downsizing and consolidating storage and networking systems, multiple servers, or even locations into a more efficient set of strategies and tools. Data Center Consolidation can have many benefits.
Benefits of Data Center Consolidation
Improve Efficiency
Consolidating your data center offers the ability to enhance operations, mitigate redundancy, and improve flexibility while delivering higher availability and better use of IT assets. By consolidating your critical infrastructure, you can do more with less.
Enhance Security
Reducing the size of your critical infrastructure and data center footprints enables a centralized infrastructure, which streamlines management and security. It can also improve your disaster recovery (DR), allowing you to implement a healthier DR plan.
Increase Flexibility
Consolidating management will create the opportunity to support more devices from multiple vendors. By having real-time access and control to your data center devices, regardless of manufacturer, you will be able to achieve higher levels of performance and business flexibility.
Cost Reduction
Consolidating your data center will help eliminate redundant and less effective operations while reducing maintenance expenses. Consolidating can also give you a more direct and accurate picture of the total cost of operations.
Sounds Great! Where Do I start?
Evaluate
For planning purposes, it’s imperative that you assess all physical locations and have an accurate map of your current environment. Your assessment will help plan out scalability and discover redundant hardware, and a good map will help you evaluate your needs, hardware, and staff availability.
Plan
To avoid significant risk, you must plan your consolidation precisely. Taking a data center offline and relocating it is a considerable undertaking and must be planned accordingly. Complications can include inadequate power supply or cooling capacity, or a lack of in-house skills that are needed for the project. Having a thorough disaster recovery (DR) plan is crucial for mitigating data loss through the consolidation process.
Design
Do you have your map and plan in hand? Now we begin creating a blueprint of the consolidated location. Unfortunately, there is no one-size-fits-all way to architect a data center. Consult with your data center vendor, partners, and project managers to evaluate your needs and help you with your data center design.
Build
After finalizing your data center design, it’s time to put together your project team. Start by determining the logistics of transportation, procurement, and construction (if necessary). For smaller projects, you may be able to close one facility and move equipment to the new location.
You’re Not Alone
Still overwhelmed? No sweat – our data center experts are ready to tackle your project with years of hands-on experience and product knowledge. We can’t wait to hear about your goals!