Computing workloads are getting bigger fast. And more complex, too. In today's rapidly evolving technological landscape, the demand for computing power is surging, driven by artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, high-performance computing, and data analytics.
Traditional datacenters that were once at the forefront of technological advancements now need help to keep pace with this escalating demand. As businesses realize the significance of data centers in driving growth and success, they face the challenge of creating a safe and effective "always-on" analytics environment that can adapt and scale alongside technological advancements.
Older datacenters need help to keep up with increased demands, and their rigid infrastructures lack the agility to pivot swiftly and stay competitive. Optimizing your datacenter design and management guarantees performance and future-proof operations.
Where is the best place to start? Your infrastructure build. Here are five considerations to remember as you modernize your datacenter infrastructure to support your business.
5 Modern Datacenter Infrastructure Considerations to Keep In Mind
Knowing where to start can be daunting. Keeping these crucial considerations in mind ensures you can continue supporting your growing operations without experiencing downtime, data loss, or other potential consequences of outdated infrastructure.
1. Upgrade your power source
You must invest in a modern datacenter infrastructure equipped to handle high-density solutions to stay ahead of competitors. What’s one key difference between modern datacenter infrastructure and older equipment? Sustainability.
Modern, high-density datacenters use advanced cooling technologies to dissipate the immense heat generated by high-density racks. This cooling process ensures efficient operations, maximizes computing power within a limited physical footprint, saves space, and reduces energy consumption.
Many modern datacenters are using sustainable power sources like solar or wind energy to power their infrastructure. Harnessing natural power will reduce the environmental impact of your data operations and demonstrate your commitment to eco-friendly initiatives, meeting increasing consumer demands for environmentally responsible practices.
2. Think long-term
You must think long-term in the face of soaring demand for space and a shortage of available facilities. The need for datacenter space is at an all-time high and new datacenters needing to come online faster.
Capacity planning helps forecast your space requirements and ensure the datacenter can accommodate expanding operations. This critical step also lets you anticipate additional space and resources to meet projected growth in the coming years. Securing necessary space in advance avoids disruptions and helps you effortlessly maintain seamless scalability.
Consider partnering with a data service provider to assess your needs, identify suitable locations, and secure the required space well before you need it. This foresight will set you up for success and result in the modern datacenter infrastructure you need to minimize potential risks associated with space availability.
Related read: How to Make Management Care About Modernization
3. Expect the unexpected with supply chain
Your datacenter infrastructure can make or break your ease in managing supply chain challenges. While supply chains are improving, some critical components like NVIDIA GPUs and enterprise networking solutions still have long lead times. - This is especially true for technologies like NVIDIA GPUs and enterprise networking solutions.
Understanding the end-of-life cycles for these components is crucial so you can account for potential delays and changes and have compatible hardware options, alternative parts, and other modern best practices in place to help you navigate supply chain uncertainties.
4. Get the most out of your investment
No matter how you slice it, developing and maintaining modern datacenter infrastructure is a significant investment. Use value engineering when designing your infrastructure to evaluate the cost-effectiveness, performance, and features that will balance and align with your goals and budget.
Keep end-users and performance top-of-mind as you invest in modernizing your infrastructure to ensure you can deliver a stellar UX. Rigorous testing and clear benchmarks help ensure and validate that your infrastructure meets the desired specifications and performance metrics.
5. Take your datacenter racks modular
Finally, modularity is a key principle for every modern datacenter infrastructure design. This workload-specific approach involves designing racks optimized for computing-intensive workloads, storage-intensive tasks, or AI/ML applications.
This approach ensures that each rack is purpose-built to deliver the required performance for the intended workload. And modularity lets you streamline processes and management and better scale and adapt to evolving requirements by housing an entire application stack within a single rack.
Stay up-to-date with the right infrastructure integration partner
Modern datacenter infrastructure is vital in helping your business safely and efficiently scale operations. Keeping your infrastructure performing takes core design, build, and management expertise your internal team doesn’t have time to worry about.
Datacenter providers and integrators understand the complexities of the modern datacenter landscape and can help you select and integrate the right technology stack to ensure compatibility with your existing infrastructure. At Redapt, our wide range of solutions are here to help you navigate the complex process of datacenter modernization.
We’ll handle the technical aspects of your modernization process, including–but not limited to– asset replacement plan, architecture and data flow plans, and a partner training and integration plan. Contact us to learn how Redapt's expertise and experience empower you to overcome the challenges of datacenter infrastructure modernization and take advantage of the latest technology.
