Increasingly companies are recognising the dangers of locating their IT departments along side their data centres. For many it is very convenient to have offices in a city centre block as it gives the company access to local business services and the staff good transport, shops and other local amenities. However such a site may be less than ideal for locating mission critical servers as the security offered by such sites cannot be guaranteed. Risk assessment undertaken some years ago probably would not have taken into account many of the dangers found in our global world today, making it time to re-think data centre sighting.
So what needs considering today when making this big decision? First of all to be open minded, considering all options. These include casting the net far and wide as the improvements in technology and networks now make it practical to not only think local but also consider data centres in Europe or even the rest of the world.
Natural disasters
Location, location, location as ever is all important, as it needs to offer security against both natural and man made disasters. In recent months we have seen the effect of earthquakes, tsunamis and flooding all over the world. Can they happen here in the UK or Europe - Yes they can. Much of London for example, could be effected by tidal flooding, and we have seen flash flooding in cities as divers as Gloucester, Hull and York. Not to forget two earthquakes this year measuring 3.6 in Ripon too.
Surprisingly, if not a little far fetched, the West Country is thought to have suffered from a tsunamis many years ago resulting from the movement of a tectonic plate in the Atlantic Trench. These caused flooding to 200 square miles, killed thousands and would have wiped out any data centres had they been around. Could it happen again and when, who knows!
Finally for natural disasters we cannot overlook pandemics. Luckily the last, the Swine Flue outbreak, was not a killer unlike Spanish Flue that killed millions. Should another wave occur that was more virulent then data centres in areas of high population would be at much greater risk.
Problems created by man
Man-made disasters, which can impact on data centres, come in many forms, such as fire spreading from adjacent buildings, terrorism or civil unrest as seen in the past in London and more recently in Oslo. Not to forget IT equipment theft, which are thought to be "to order" resulting from the high value of the kite used. So far 2011 has seen outages in data centres in Basingstoke and East London, causing distress to thousands.
Once you have found a location that avoids the problems identified above and is constructed to withstand the most invasive attempts of international crime to break in, then think power. Servers, at the micro level, over the last few years have steadily demanded more and more. Not so long ago a rack might draw 1.5 kilowatts, where as today it could have a thirst for 10 kilowatts or more, typified by blades and high frequency trading. On the macro level this means that a data centre may require to 2 or 5
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