Data capacity is a major headache for companies. Many organizations spend months, sometimes years, planning a new data center and buying equipment, only to have data requirements rise so quickly that the facility is filled to capacity in just a year, and sometimes less. According to a recent Data Center Journal report, responding to capacity problems is a frequent problem for organizations, and the traditional options for resolution are limited. Outsourcing could be the solution.
In traditional operating environments, the primary option for capacity planning has been to simply build a new data center, the news source said. Hardware refreshes and similar tactics could also help. The problem here is that businesses that are not inherently focused on IT are rarely in a good position to strategically develop an efficient and cost-effective data center. This is especially prevalent in the contemporary IT world, where complexity is common. This is where data center outsourcing comes into play.
The report explained that various forms of cloud hosting and colocation have the potential to help businesses overcome all of their capacity planning challenges by giving them access to vital services in a more cost effective way.
According to the news source, the public cloud is at one end of the data center outsourcing spectrum, allowing organizations to outsource just about anything to a third-party vendor and keep minimal hardware on the premises. The public cloud can handle everything from IT Infrastructure services to Software-as-a-Service, giving companies an extremely easy-to-use option.
For companies that, for whatever reason, cannot go entirely into the public cloud, the hybrid cloud is a more moderate stance on outsourcing, the report said. In the hybrid cloud, companies use the public cloud when possible and supplements it with either hosted or internal private cloud systems.
Turning to a colocation provider is another popular option, the Data Center Journal explained. In this scenario, companies essentially compromise between the cloud and owning their own data center systems, as they own the hardware but have it housed in a third-party facility.
Regardless of how a company chooses to outsource their data center operations, the solution offers considerable potential. Businesses are increasingly recognizing this trend, as a recent survey from J.D. Power and Associates found that 18 percent of businesses are using data center outsourcing in some form. This represents a significant gain compared to a similar study performed in 2011, which found 12 percent of those polled using data outsourcing.
