Data Center Relocation / Migration or Expansion Trends

Data center relocation / migration or the expansion of an existing data center is quite a challenge for any business. Companies therefore do not just arrive at the decision to expand or migrate. There are specific factors or drivers to migration and expansion that will typically force a business to arrive at the decision. Trends have shown that in the past few years these issues have remained basically the same for many companies that have data centers.

In a presentation given at the Data Center Conference and Expo in 2013, Paul Schlattman, Vice President - Mission Critical Facilities of ESD Global, identified these trends in data center migration and expansion. So, in 2013, on top of the list is energy efficiency. New technologies and server hardware have allowed a business to properly maintain an energy efficient data center. It was therefore prudent for the company to change to take advantage of what technology has to offer in terms of savings. This was therefore the main reason why many companies decided to expand or do migration. The second driving factor is security. Many businesses adapted to more secured infrastructures and added disaster prevention in their network and physical locations. The third reason is virtualization. Combining virtualization with blade technology consumes less space, less energy consumption and allows more power.

In 2013 leading into 2014, we see the same trends in data center migration and expansion. Energy efficiency is still a major consideration for each business. Businesses have become aware that location affects energy consumption. Facebook has demonstrated this in its Pineville, Oregon data center. Security is also a major concern. This was especially true in 2013, particularly in relation to disasters. Many companies still consider this in expansion. Last year, we saw the rise of micro data centers which are designed to be more adaptive to natural disasters and other similar situations.

According to Schlattman, when businesses migrate or do an expansion in data centers, it basically means three things for the organization. The first is that it will require capitalization. Data center expansion and migration is capital intensive and businesses are forced to finance the expansion or the move. Second, expansion and migration means disruption or change in the current business operation. Depending on the expansion or the migration, the business will be forced to learn and adapt to the new technology. As such, it may cause disruption which will affect the profitability of the business at least for the time being. Third, new trends or technology forces the business to change. As such, before implementing migration projects the business must first determine if they have the capacity to change. This is the reason why despite the trends, many companies are forced to use antiquated data centers.