Data Center Migration FAQ -2

No two data center migrations are the same. Every system migration requires a thorough understanding of both the clients’ computing environment and its business culture. Following are a few frequently asked questions that will help define both the business culture and the computing environment.  They are worth considering before project kick-off

4.  How scalable will my data center be?

• If you build your own data center it is inherently cost prohibitive.  Most organizations do not have the capital to plan 5-10 years out for power, cooling, layout, configuration, lease renewals, space constraints, Green IT initiatives, etc.
• A company that owns its own data center assumes much greater maintenance costs, security expenses and other risks.
• If you lease, be sure the lease language looks to the future.  Does your lease include expansion provisions – make sure there will be enough space in the same location 5 years from now.  Do some research on your landlord as well.  Make sure the company has a good and established history.

5.  How much power and cooling do we need?

• More than you think you do and much more for scalability.
• You need to take into consideration as the whether or not the power and cooling are in balance.  Will one run out before the other?
• Data centers consume up to 3-6% of all electricity generated in the US today. (Sources: IDC and The Uptime Institute)
• Make sure your facility has access to multiple sources of electricity.
• During The David-Kenneth Group Assessment & Design portion of a data center migration, our team conducts a site suitability analysis to encompass power and cooling needs now and in the future.

6.  How do you handle current and future Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity capabilities?

• Data center migration and backup plans must be ready to be activated at a moment’s notice.
• Our proven data center migration methodology incorporates an in-depth assessment which takes into account your current data backup plans as well as those during and after the migration.  Risk factors during a data center migration may include the following:
  • Loss of data
  • Loss of power
  • Security
  • Geographic location of servers during migration
  • Transportation of equipment
  • Damage to equipment during transport
  • Lack of resources to manage migration
  • Acts of God (fire, flood, earthquake, etc.)
  • Utility and technical concerns at new site (electrical, cooling, internet, cabling, racks, etc.)
  • As part of our assessment our data center migration team meets with your internal IT team, facilities department, network administrators, utility providers and other relevant stakeholders to ensure that all voices are part of a blended IT team.  An extensive list of questions is submitted to each group, discussed and completed as a team to address all disaster recover/business continuity concerns.

7.  We are thinking of possible hardware, application and/or operating system upgrades during the migration.  Is this a good time to perform these upgrades?

• While most people believe that a migration is a great time to optimize servers and business functions, we don’t recommend adding additional risk to a data center migration.
• We recommend that you go from steady-state to steady-state first.  After you are operating in the steady-state for a set period of time you may then optimize business functions with hardware, application and/or operating system upgrades.

8.    Are your data centers carrier neutral?

• We work with a variety of data centers/colocation facilities across the nation.  Depending on your needs and which data center you decide to migrate to, you may be able to choose from a number of carriers for your data needs.
• In our experience a carrier neutral facility encourages competition among the providers driving costs down.

Most IT departments are not staffed to handle a data center migration on its own.  Think of it as having your veterinarian perform neurosurgery on you.  Is that