Research

Data Center Build Project Charter

A data center build project charter is essential to the planning phase of the project. It lays out important information such as the project's description, potential risks, and communication plan to keep all stakeholders informed. Complete the project charter before the project commences to identify scope and receive executive sponsorship.

Understanding Server Room Co-location

Enterprises can significantly reduce costs by implementing a server room co-location strategy. Cost savings center on power, cooling, and avoidance of capital expenditures. Enterprises considering building or refreshing the server room should use the capital and operational expenditure savings as the cornerstone of the business case.

Server Room Facility Requirements: Estimations At-a-Glance

When building or refreshing the server room, IT must have a high level understanding of the requirements and potential budget. Facility requirements for power, cooling, standby power, fire protection, sizing, and architectural space layout should be estimated before entering a build versus buy decision to provide decision makers with a 360 degree view of requirements and costs. Use Info-Tech's research to aid in the facility requirements gathering process and strategy.

Exploring Data Center Co-Location

Enterprises can significantly reduce costs by implementing a data center co-location strategy. Cost savings center on power, cooling, and avoided capital expenditures. Enterprises considering building or refreshing the data center should use the capital and operational expenditure savings as the cornerstone of the business case.

Small Enterprise Assessment for Green IT Success

This tool assesses the probability that an organization will be successful when implementing green IT initiatives. Measure the organization's likelihood of successfully realizing the environmental and business benefits of green IT, and consider recommendations to improve this score.

Data Center Contract Management Policy

In complex, multi-vendor data center environments, a contract management policy is an essential control tool used to minimize the risk and maximize the benefits of vendor contracts to the enterprise. Establish a data center contract management policy to protect against poor negotiations and to reduce the risk of failure in delivery of contracted products and services.

Data Center Building Site Selection Checklist

One of the most important phases a new data center build is selecting the building site. Whether it is an existing building or a new construction site, IT must exercise due diligence by completing a site evaluation for each potential location. Use a building site selection checklist to ensure nothing is overlooked, and that the site is an adequate and safe location for the organization's data center.

TELUS Managed Service Offerings Moving Down Market

Organizations in the selection process for a data center managed services vendor may find it difficult to differentiate vendor offerings in a highly commoditized market. TELUS Corporation is a leading vendor in Canada with a range of offerings from customer managed services to fully managed services on shared, dedicated and virtualized platforms with unique additions such as cloud computing and tiered Storage Area Networks (SAN). Understand and evaluate TELUS service offerings to determine if it is a fit for the enterprise's data center outsourcing needs.

Server Room Co-location: Vendor Selection Criteria for Recovery Services

Enterprises evaluating co-location vendors must sort through a commoditized market of basic services. Whether or not IT plans to invest in recovery services provided by the vendor, these capabilities should still be assessed before choosing a vendor. Include recovery services selection criteria in the search for a co-location vendor for a complete evaluation and to avoid switching costs.

Server Room Co-location: Managed Services Vendor Selection Criteria

Enterprises beginning the selection process for co-location vendors should establish a set of criteria to evaluate the vendor's managed services offerings, regardless of present need. Managed services may not be in scope when first embarking on a co-location engagement, but switching later is costly. Include managed services criteria in the selection process regardless of immediate need.

Planning for Server Room Physical Layout and Support Center Space

The physical layout of the server room's building space should be carefully thought out and planned before the refresh or build stage. Apart from the room that houses servers and equipment, there are other support areas important to server room functions and activities that need to be considered when designing the space. Consider all aspects of the server room building to allocate space and determine a high level budget.

The Employee-Based Sizing Method Ballparks Server Room Breadth

Sizing the server room can be a difficult task, especially when factoring in future business needs. Employee-based sizing is one of many methods that can aid in estimating the required size when building or refreshing the server room. Estimate sizing requirements to develop a high level budget for the planning and design phases of the server room.

Planning for Data Center Physical Layout and Support Center Space

Estimate Data Center Size with the Employee-Based Sizing Method

Sizing the data center can be a difficult task, especially when factoring in future business needs. Employee-based sizing is one of many methods that can aid in estimating the required size when building or refreshing the data center. Estimate sizing requirements to develop a high level budget for the planning and design phases of the data center.

Data Center Standby Power Supply Requirements Calculator

Estimating the amount of standby power supply required when building or refreshing the data center is an important part of data center planning and design. In order to account for the organization's risk tolerance, the required amount of standby power supply should be reflected in the final budget. Estimate standby power supply requirements to ensure the data center can withstand short-term and long-term outages.