Weatherproofing The Data Center

Here's the dilemma: A small or midsize customer is building out a new VoIP infrastructure, adding a few new blades or packing even more hardware into a wiring closet. Now, mind you, it's all mission-critical because, these days, what's not mission-critical? It now becomes the solution provider's job to make sure that enterprise technology keeps running and doesn't succumb to heat, humidity or even the occasional burst water pipe. (It's been known to happen.)

Most customers know chapter and verse on how to weatherproof their homes. Now it's up to you to weatherproof their data centers.

Data center expansion continues at a blistering pace in the market. Server, storage and application consolidation is a key driver. The buildout of VoIP solutions for small and midsize businesses is another. Virtualization, security, the proliferation of dedicated devices that sit on the rack—it's all adding up to more horsepower for the masses of businesses, government offices and workgroups.

The pluses: Smaller businesses now have the chance to get the same edge and benefits of high-end technology that was once the exclusive province of Fortune 500 IT departments. The minuses: Many of those same smaller businesses don't have the budget or wherewithal to keep an eye on rising temperatures in smaller data centers, which can reduce or eliminate ROI; keep an eye on airflow, which could indicate blocked ducts, broken fans or worse; or keep an eye on physical security, which could increase risks by orders of magnitude. (Dude, don't put that propane tank next to the SunFire server!)

CRNtech pursued two tracks for this report. One track focused on an examination of a couple of out-of-the-box solutions for establishing data center monitoring of a few key metrics (including heat and humidity), as well as a discussion of best practices with a solution provider who has a growing business bringing small and midsize companies into the wonderful but sometimes overly complex world of data center computing.

Where better to find a solution provider who knows about these issues than at a company called Five Nines Technologies, which focuses largely on keeping small and midsize businesses up and running at or better than the gold standard of 99.999 percent uptime?

Ben Pankonin, director of business development at Five Nines, Lincoln, Neb., says there are several keys to working with a customer to deliver the right solution to monitor the data center. Some of those steps involve developing skills in key areas, but they also include knowing the customer and, for the solution provider, knowing his or her degree of skill and competency as well. Pankonin says his company delivers a variety of different data center monitoring solutions and tools, depending on the data center, the customer, the customer's budget and other factors.

While you may believe that data center monitoring is just another rudimentary exercise, as you'll see below it's possible for a solution provider to lose business to a competitor if the right amount of attention isn't paid to details.

Data center monitoring and, when the situation calls for it, remote monitoring, is vital and almost inexcusable not to implement. The good news is that there are products and practices now available in the channel to offer high-end protection to small and midsize businesses. Once a solution provider convinces the customer to think of a data center as he or she would a home, the rest can fall into place.

Next: Five Steps To Weatherproofing A Customer's Data Center