Issue 12, Oct/Nov
FOCUS DATACENTER DISCUSSIONS
DatacenterDiscussions
FOCUS gives two leading experts the opportunity to ask each other questions on how they see the industry.
WILLIE McBREARTY
Data center consultant
BT Engage CHRIS FLANAGAN
Data center development manager
Fujitsu Services
Willie McBreaty and Chris Flanagan discuss London, location, energy commitments and the cloud. (Both will form part of a special panel looking at the demands of managing large data centers at DatacenterDynamics’ London event in November)
Q. WILLIE McBREARTY: Where would the optimum location for your data centre be? London and the South East or the provinces?
A. CHRIS FLANAGAN: In the UK, London dominates the data center market, which is fundamentally driven by the fi nancial market requiring active-active data centers. Network technology restricts secondary data centres to within 100 km network distance.
Combined with the fact that many data centres were originally located at a company’s London HQ, companies had little choice but to locate the second data center within the London area. Any company trying to fulfi l this market has little option but to construct data centers where the demand is.
If you were starting afresh today, there is an argument for locating outside of the South East, but that option isn’t available for many organizations.
Q. CF: With the impact of cloud computing solutions, do you think London will continue to be the focal point of the UK’s Data center industry?
A. WM: Cloud computing alone won’t drive business from inside the M25 (the highway seen to seperate London from the rest of the UK). Value for money and security, however, will play equal parts in the process.
Q. WM: Do you think virtualization and cloud computing really lead to a reduction in demand for data center space and power?
A. CF: For as long as people can remember there have been various forecasts of the reduction in demand for data center capacity due to new technology. While these and other solutions are likely to reduce demand for the existing estate, they in turn stimulate demand in other areas.
The huge reduction in cost and time to market for the provision of IT will
allow solutions to be developed that previously couldn’t be imagined. IT will no longer be the barrier to new ideas or solutions, the next Facebook or Twitter will start in the cloud somewhere. This equally applies to businesses, where new innovative business applications can be implemented immediately and at little cost. All of which drives demand for the data centre, although possibly in fewer and fewer locations.
Q. CF: How do you expect cloud computing to impact data center organizations in the UK in coming years?
If you were starting today, there is an argument for locating outside of the South East
CHRIS FLANAGAN
A. WM: If by organizations you mean those providing rack space, the answer is not much.
The ’cloud’ is not some existential being. The equipment required still needs fl oor space, power and cooling. So I doubt the ‘cloud ‘ will result directly in a reduction in the demand for rack space overall.
What will happen, I believe, is that companies will fi nd it more compelling to make a business decision to outsource their IT requirements to specialists off ering virtualization and cloud services simply because it is cheaper and more effi cient to do so.
www.datacenterdynamics.com 35
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