industry news
Energy costs and availability concerning data centre industry
Forty four per cent of respondents to the DatacenterDynamics Industry Census 2011 believe increased energy costs will impact significantly on their data centre operations in the next 12 months.
Survey respondents are responsible for nearly 100,000 data centers, over seven million equipment racks and a total power consumption of around 31GW – enough energy to power all residential households in the United Kingdom, France or Italy.
Forty two per cent of respondents believe that the development of more energy efficient physical infrastructure such as cooling units, UPS and power distribution equipment, will have significant impact on energy use. Since the introduction of the voluntary EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres and metrics such as the Green Grid’s PUE, there has been greater awareness of the proportion of the power overhead required to support the ‘productive’ energy expended to provide compute cycles (i.e. useful work).
Those surveyed are also trusting in developments in virtualisation (40 per cent) to help increase utilisation of IT servers and therefore lower the effective cost of production. Developments such as the uptake of data centre infrastructure management software already integrates the physical layer with virtual machines, helping data centre and IT managers to plan capacity requirements as well as physical machine placement, further enhancing resource utilisation and facility efficiency.
Despite the much publicised projections regarding the uptake of cloud computing (and its preference for high density data centre architecture), the DatacenterDynamics Industry Census 2011 sample demonstrates an average power density of around 4.05kW/ rack. The overall profile is 58 per cent under 5kW/rack; 28 per cent 5kW-10kW/rack and 14 per cent racks over 10kW/rack.
Comtek expands training service
Comtek has announced that it is expanding its internal training facilities to support customers’ in-house engineers. Located at the company’s Deeside headquarters, the new service will provide training for both internal and external engineers on the most efficient running and upkeep of equipment, ensuring that organisations can sweat their assets for longer. This new offering is an extension of Comtek’s existing training facility which trains internal staff on the running and maintenance of Nortel equipment through its dedicated Nortel lab. ‘We decided to launch the service following feedback from our customer base,’ said Askar Sheibani, CEO and MD of Comtek. ‘As organisations look to improve their sustainable credentials, all whilst slashing budgets, we are seeing the repair and maintenance of products become an absolute necessity for companies today. Given the success of our specialist Nortel lab, this new training service seemed like a natural progression for Comtek and further underpins our position as the leader in this field.’ The newly extended service will provide training on how to efficiently use and configure complex telecoms and networking equipment, as well as how to maintain it on a long term basis. Conducted by specialist engineers the training is entirely tailored to individual organisation’s requirements. ‘This new service is a much valued addition to our current offering,’ concluded Askar Sheibani. ‘By providing services which repair existing infrastructure, and equip engineers with the tools and the know how to maintain that equipment in the long term, we are effectively creating a one stop shop for organisations looking to improve their corporate IT sustainability.’
New research reveals growing ‘consumerisation’ of IT
Dell KACE has announced the results from a new global survey of nearly 750 IT professionals on the effect that personal devices have on business, demonstrating the growing ‘consumerisation’ of IT. The survey found many (62 per cent) IT managers feel they lack the necessary tools to properly manage personal devices. Conducted by Dimensional Research and commissioned by Dell KACE, the survey revealed 87 per cent of companies have employees that use some kind of personal device for work including laptops, smart phones and tablet computers; however, they are unable to effectively protect corporate data and intellectual property as well as ensure compliance.
‘Consumer products are evolving into viable businesses tools, but according to our research, the majority of companies do not have a proper strategy in place to manage these devices. This opens them up to serious security risks,’ said Diane Hagglund, senior research analyst for Dimensional Research and the study’s author. ‘Consumerisation of IT is not simply a passing trend. It is the way business will be conducted on an ongoing basis, especially in the small and medium business (SMB) market, so it is critical that companies put policies and standards into place to support these devices, and ensure the security of corporate and intellectual property.’
Information security tops BCS poll as skill of tomorrow
Information security has topped a poll by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, as the most important attribute of the IT professional of the future. The poll was run ahead of the Institute’s IT training and professional development summit.
Adam Thilthorpe, director of
professionalism, BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, explained, ‘The skills needed by an IT professional are continually changing not only to keep pace with technological advances but also to adapt to the changing nature IT plays today in business and society.
‘It’s not surprising that information security topped our poll; information is one of the most valuable asset organisations own and being able to protect it is vital. ‘With the increasing importance of
information in the business place, the continued expansion of online business opportunities and the emergence of new technologies, information security, assurance and cyber security will, without a doubt, continue to play a major role in all organisations. ‘Organisations need to understand information and have an approach to risk management. Through this understanding, they will be better placed to identify the opportunities open to their business and assess the associated benefits and risks. They will then be able to implement technology and information security to mitigate the risks and fully benefit from the opportunities.’
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