yotta, Author at Yotta

Physical And Digital Layers Of Security In Data Centers

Posted on August 18, 2023August 18, 2023 by yotta

From sensitive customer information to proprietary business strategies, data is an invaluable asset that requires steadfast protection. Data centers, the nerve centers of modern businesses, play a pivotal role in safeguarding this critical information. To create an impenetrable fortress for data, a dual approach of physical and digital security layers is imperative.

Physical Security

1. Access Controls: Colocation data centers employ a multifaceted approach to access controls. This includes biometric authentication like fingerprint scans and retina recognition, key card systems, and PIN-based entries. Only authorised personnel are granted entry, ensuring that only those with legitimate reasons can access the premises.

2. Perimeter Security: Fencing, barriers, and surveillance cameras encircle the colocation data center, forming a protective barrier against external threats. Security personnel conduct regular patrols to maintain constant vigilance.

3. Mantraps and Biometric Verification: Access points are often fortified with mantraps – enclosed spaces with two sets of interlocking doors. This ensures that only one individual can enter or exit at a time, preventing tailgating. Moreover, biometric verification methods like fingerprint scanning or retina recognition add an extra layer of identity validation, reducing the risk of unauthorised access.

4. Security Monitoring: Data centers are equipped with advanced surveillance systems, including motion sensors, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and infrared technology. These monitoring systems ensure continuous surveillance of the premises.

Digital Security

1. Firewalls and Intrusion Detection/Prevention Systems: Firewalls act as gatekeepers, filtering incoming and outgoing network traffic to block unauthorised access. IDS/IPS systems monitor network traffic for signs of suspicious activity and can automatically take actions to thwart potential threats.

2. Network Segmentation: Implementing intelligent network segmentation significantly reduces the attack surface of data center networks by isolating infrastructure components, hindering attacker lateral movement and minimising breach impact potential.

3. Security Patching and Updates: Regular updates and patches to operating systems and software are essential to close vulnerabilities that could be exploited by hackers.

The Synergy Of Physical And Digital Layers

The strength of data center security lies in the seamless integration between the physical and digital layers. These two layers are not isolated silos; they interact and reinforce each other to create an impenetrable fortress. A data center’s biometric authentication system not only grants physical access but also integrates with the digital security system. This means that only personnel with valid biometric credentials can log in to the digital systems.

In case of a breach, physical security measures can complement digital efforts. For instance, a triggered motion sensor could lock down the affected area while the digital security system quarantines the compromised data. In the event of a security incident, physical security personnel can collaborate with their digital counterparts to quickly isolate affected servers or systems. This containment strategy prevents the spread of the breach and allows for targeted remediation efforts.

Companies should prioritise hyperscale data centers with robust security measures as they provide an unparalleled shield against various risks. Yotta NM1 Data Center employs a comprehensive array of security measures, including an automated mantrap for server hall entry, biometric authentication for access, robust explosive and narcotics detection, meticulous server key access management, and various other safeguards. Similarly, at Yotta D1 Data Center, an array of security measures is in place, encompassing campus entrance checks, bio-metric access control at server halls, and resilient security protocols for accessing server halls, among others.

In conclusion, a colocation data center’s security is fortified by a harmonious interplay between physical and digital security layers. These layers work cohesively to ensure the protection of data and the uninterrupted operation of critical systems.

Reading The Signs: When Colocation Data Centers Become Imperative For Your Business

Posted on August 7, 2023August 7, 2023 by yotta

In today’s digital era, businesses heavily rely on data and uninterrupted IT infrastructure. As companies grow, their data center needs evolve. Colocation data center provide the necessary computing, storage, and networking resources for modern enterprises. According to the Economic Times, the Indian data center market witnessed a remarkable 48% growth over the past three years, increasing from 540 MW of installed capacity in 2019 to surpassing 800 MW in 2022.

Instead of building and operating their own data centers, businesses can opt to rent or lease capacity from remote colocation providers, accessing them over a wide area network (WAN) like the internet. This allows businesses to avoid the complexity and expense of traditional data centers while still benefiting from their services.

But how can businesses determine when it’s the right time to make the move? Let’s look at some of the key business indicators that signify the need to transition to colocation data centers. By understanding these signs, businesses can make informed decisions that align with their growth strategies and operational requirements.

Expanding IT Infrastructure:

One of the first indicators that a business should consider colocation is the rapid expansion of its IT infrastructure. As companies scale, their data storage, processing power, and network requirements grow exponentially. Managing this increased demand in-house can strain resources and hinder operational efficiency. Colocation data centers provide scalable solutions that can accommodate evolving infrastructure needs, ensuring seamless performance and reliability.

Reliability and Uptime Concerns:

Downtime can have severe consequences for businesses, leading to revenue loss, damaged reputation, and customer dissatisfaction. If a company’s existing data center struggles to maintain reliable operations or experiences frequent outages, it’s a clear sign that a transition to a colocation facility is worth considering. Colocation providers offer robust infrastructure, redundant power systems, advanced cooling mechanisms, and 24/7 monitoring, significantly reducing the risk of downtime.

Cost Efficiency and Scalability:

A full-featured data center is expensive. Cost efficiency and scalability are important factors in data centers. Building and maintaining a full-featured data center is expensive, with high construction and operational costs. Colocation data centers offer cost efficiency through shared infrastructure, economies of scale, and predictable pricing models. They also provide scalability, allowing businesses to adjust IT resources as needed, optimising costs and resource utilisation.

Enhanced Security and Compliance:

Businesses prioritise data security due to the escalating cyber threats. Colocation data centers offer advanced security measures such as multi-factor authentication, video surveillance, fire detection, and robust access controls. The data center must also implement several layers of network security to protect against cyber-attacks like firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and DDoS protection systems. Additionally, businesses must comply with increasing government regulations impacting application usage, data management, and security.

Meeting data residence requirements of various nations or geopolitical areas can be challenging for a single data center. Colocation services help satisfy regulatory demands without the need for costly construction. Colocation facilities are designed to meet industry compliance standards, ensuring data privacy and regulatory adherence, especially vital for regulated sectors.

Geographic Reach and Disaster Recovery:

For organisations seeking geographic redundancy or expanding their operations to new locations, colocation data centers offer a viable solution. By leveraging a network of interconnected facilities, businesses can establish a presence in multiple regions without the need for building and managing individual data centers. Additionally, colocation providers often offer comprehensive disaster recovery services, enabling swift data restoration and minimising downtime in the event of a natural disaster or other unforeseen circumstances.

Performance:

In the current landscape, businesses demand a global presence, which entails providing worldwide access to applications and data. However, relying on a single data center proves challenging in meeting the extensive demands of global users. Even when a business makes the investment in costly network bandwidth, physical realities of network latency, congestion and connectivity can lower workload availability and performance for remote users potentially affecting user satisfaction and workload use. Colocation empowers businesses to position workloads and data in proximity to users across various geographical regions, ensuring optimal workload performance without necessitating the construction of additional facilities.

Transitioning to colocation data centers becomes apparent as businesses grapple with growing IT infrastructure, reliability concerns, cost management, data security, and geographic expansion. Embracing colocation offers scalable, reliable, cost-effective, and secure infrastructure, allowing organisations to focus on core competencies and drive success in the digital landscape.

Yotta, a leading provider of colocation services, equipped with advanced security measures, redundant power systems and robust cooling mechanisms, offers a comprehensive range of solutions to meet evolving business needs.

The Yotta NM1 data center in Mumbai offers a host of advanced features, ensuring an optimal environment for business infrastructure. With an impressive 7200 rack capacity, 30.4MW power capacity, and 4 dedicated fibre paths, the data center boasts a remarkable design PUE of 1.4. Notably, it holds the distinction of being the first and only facility in India to receive validation with a Tier IV Gold Certificate for Operational Sustainability (TCOS) from Uptime Institute. The Yotta D1 data center in Greater Noida sprawls across 300,000 sq. ft and strategically situates itself near major innovation clusters. This location facilitates industry-leading uptime, connectivity, and fault tolerance. The facility stands equipped with 5000 rack capacity, 28.8MW power, and an impressive design PUE of 1.4.

6 Factors To Consider When Choosing A Data Center

Posted on May 24, 2023May 24, 2023 by yotta

The benefits of colocation are plenty and proven, but how do you go about selecting the data center to house your critical IT infrastructure? All data centers in India are not alike. Making an uninformed choice can cost businesses substantial downtime, data loss, and other burdensome implications. That’s why it is imperative you find the right data center for your colocation needs.

Key points to consider when you’re choosing a colocation data center:

1. Availability (Uptime): It’s important to factor in availability, which is the amount of guaranteed uptime provided by the data center. To ensure that business-critical applications and services remain always available, choose a provider that offers a high uptime guarantee. The best option would be a data center with a Tier III or Tier IV rating. Consider facilities that offer at least 99.9% uptime, however, if your organisation requires higher availability, look for data centers with 99.99% uptime or more. Popular Tier rating providers include Uptime Institute and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which define the standards for data center operations.

2. Security: The colocation service provider must maintain strict physical security measures, including access controls, biometric authentication, round-the-clock cameras, and secure fencing. The data center must also implement several layers of network security to protect against cyber-attacks. These can include firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and DDoS protection systems. There should also be a team of security experts to monitor the network continuously and respond to any potential security threats immediately.

Logical separation is another essential factor to consider when choosing a data center in India. Some only host the clients’ equipment, while others provide more advanced solutions like cloud and managed IT. In the case of the latter, determine if the data center provides logical separation i.e. data and applications of one client are not accessible to another that shares the same infrastructure.

3. Redundancy: Enquire about the type of redundancy used in the data center, such as N+1, N+2, 2N, and 2N+1, with 2N+1 being the highest form of redundancy. The most crucial component to duplicate is the power supply. The colocation data center facility must have redundant power sources, including backup generators and an uninterrupted power supply. There must also be effective and redundant cooling systems that ensure appropriate temperature and humidity levels are maintained for servers.

4. Scalability: Choose a provider that offers flexible and scalable solutions, like the ability to easily add or remove rack space or increase power density, in line with business requirements. Scalability must extend to network, connectivity, and equipment. In the case of business expansion, the data center must be capable of offering sufficient infrastructure and space. By working with a provider with a proven track record of scalable infrastructure and a willingness to work with enterprises on their growth plans, businesses can ensure they have the resources to meet their evolving IT needs.

5. Compliance: It is essential that colocation providers comply with local data protection and privacy regulations. ISO certifications indicate that the colocation provider has implemented a robust information security management system and adheres to industry best practices for data security and privacy. It is advised to select a provider who is Uptime Institute certified and ensure to verify the certification. Additionally, make sure to ask if the data center will support third-party audits, in case they are applicable to your business.

6. Cost: Ascertain the recurring cost to be paid to the colocation data center provider for hosting equipment and providing power, cooling, and network connectivity. Find out if there are any one-time fees applicable to set up the infrastructure for hosting the enterprise’s equipment. If there are, check if providing power to your servers and ensuring network connectivity are covered. Additional services may be offered by some data centers in India such as remote hands support or equipment installation, at an added cost. When you’re evaluating the costs, the level of service and reliability provided by the data center must be considered.

Maximise IT Infrastructure With A Trusted Colocation Partner
For enterprises seeking a secure and cost-effective solution to manage IT infrastructure, colocation data center is a suitable option. By leveraging the resources of a colocation provider, organisations can access state-of-the-art data centers without the burden of constructing and maintaining on-prem facilities.

Yotta NM1 data center in Mumbai offers a range of features to ensure that business infrastructure is housed in an optimal environment. The facility offers 7200 rack capacity, 50MW IT power, 4 dedicated fiber paths, and a design PUE of 1.4. The data center is also the first and only facility in India to be validated with a Tier IV Gold Certificate for Operational Sustainability (TCOS) from Uptime Institute. Spread across 300,000 sq. ft, Yotta D1 data center in Greater Noida is located near major innovation clusters and delivers industry-best uptime, connectivity, and fault tolerance. The facility offers 5000 rack capacity, 28.8MW IT Power, and a design PUE of 1.4.

Choosing the right data center partner is crucial for businesses to ensure their IT infrastructure is secure, efficient, and cost-effective. With Yotta’s range of benefits, businesses can trust that their infrastructure is housed in an optimal environment.

Best Practices For Data Center Migration

Posted on May 2, 2023September 1, 2023 by yotta

As an enterprise continues to grow, there may come a time when its IT infrastructure is unable to accommodate the rising demands. This is majorly the case with on-premises data centers, which require significant hardware investments and maintenance to keep up with the increasing need for computing power, storage, etc. These challenges can be addressed by undertaking migration, preferably to a colocation provider.

Migrating or colocating a data center essentially involves the transfer of IT infrastructure from captive sites to third-party colocation facilities. The intended destination may also be a newly constructed data center, however, with the widespread adoption of the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model, enterprises are increasingly looking at multi-tenant colocation data centers that offer rented space, IT equipment, and bandwidth.

Data center migration can be a complex process. There are several steps to it, from planning, determining resource requirements, and designing the new environment to testing the plan and verifying its success. It is crucial to identify the duration of downtime, if any, that can be reasonably incurred during the migration. This will determine the actual migration process.

Data Center Migration Best Practices

1. Migration strategy: It’s important to define the needs and objectives of the migration. An enterprise may choose to build a larger data center, however, this involves significant capital expense (CapEx). On the other hand, renting or leasing, as is the case with colocation, reduces costs significantly. Similarly, the enterprise can achieve interoperability by adopting a hybrid approach that aligns different workloads to a combination of suitable infrastructure platforms.

2. Devise a comprehensive plan: The enterprise must create a plan outlining the project scope, timeframe, resource allocation, risk management, and communication strategies. It should also lay out the critical applications, services, and data that need to be migrated and prioritise them as per the business needs.

3. Identify potential risks: Next, potential risks, such as power and cooling limitations, hardware and software compatibility issues, and security concerns should be identified. Addressing these challenges will help minimise the risk of downtime during the migration, while ensuring that systems are not exposed to cyber threats during the process.

4. Training and support: The staff who will be working with the new infrastructure must be provided necessary training and support. This will entail training on how to use the new systems, any new process that will be implemented, and providing support during the transition period. These efforts can help in a seamless migration.

5. Test: It is important that a proper test strategy is in place. The test emphasis should be on verifying the functionality and operability of infrastructure and applications. Any issues identified need to be resolved prior to the migration. The testing must be aimed at ensuring that applications continue to function smoothly, without any adverse impact on the business.

Undoubtedly, moving a data center is a complex task that requires careful consideration. Nevertheless, if your enterprise adequately plans, communicates, and incorporates the best practices, it can prepare for a smooth transition.

Embracing Colocation For Optimised Infrastructure

Data center colocation is becoming an increasingly popular migration strategy among businesses. Here, companies can place their hardware in a multi-tenant data center facility operated completely by the service provider. The colocation provider offers a secure, and well-connected environment with power, cooling, and security to ensure uptime and data protection while delivering high levels of efficiency and uptime. According to Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence (KSI), India’s colocation market is expected to reach $3,427.784 million (Rs. 281.3 billion) by 2027.

Colocation eliminates the need for companies to build and maintain their data center infrastructure. They instead need to only pay for the space and services on an as-needed basis, which significantly brings down the overall capital expenditure. Colocation data center providers also have well-trained staff who can help enterprises with migration planning, implementation, and ongoing maintenance. This frees up the internal IT resources to focus on other strategic projects. Yotta’s data centers in India offer colocation services with multi-layer security, redundant network, and cloud connectivity. Enterprises can host their critical IT infrastructure with 100% uptime in high-quality, fault-tolerant facilities.

Data center migration can seem like a challenging process, however, if you follow the best practices listed above, your enterprise will be able to minimise downtime, mitigate risks, and ensure a successful migration. Having a clear migration plan outlining the steps involved is essential, as well as identifying potential risks, and setting timelines and responsibilities. Testing, validation, and monitoring help in ensuring a smooth transition.

Making The Right Choice For Colocation Choosing the right data center for colocation is important. A reliable center will ensure that your critical infrastructure and applications continue to run optimally with minimum downtime. When selecting a colocation data center, ensure it has an uptime certification from Uptime Institute or the TIA-942. Additionally, look for one that offers end-to-end capabilities that ensure your infrastructure is always available. By selecting a reliable colocation data center, you can ensure a successful migration with better outcomes with regard to cost savings, security, and improved connectivity.

Zero Downtime: The New Norm for Data Centers In 2023?

Posted on February 28, 2023April 18, 2023 by yotta

Zero downtime has been a common buzzword among data centers, with many data center operators striving to achieve it. Having a reliable data center with little to no downtime in this fast-paced digital world has become crucial, but achieving it is easier said than done.

The consequences of failures or outages at data centers can be significant for a business. Damage to reputation, lost revenue, added costs, and loss of employee productivity are some of the ways a business can be hit as a result of a data center downtime. Uptime Institute’s 2022 Data Center Resiliency Survey found that over the past three years, 80% of data center managers and operators witnessed some kind of outage.

Uptime, within the context of a data center, is the assured annual availability of the IT infrastructure, expressed in increasing degrees of 99%. The difference between 99.671% and 99.999% may not seem significant. However, the former translates to downtime of up to 28.8 hours a year, while the latter means being down for up to 5.3 minutes annually. This holds great significance for businesses and end-consumer experience.

Downtime can be expensive and hinder the bottom line. Enter 2023, maintaining a solid digital infrastructure is more critical than ever, and 100% uptime is the top priority for IT leaders. Round-the-clock access to data and unwillingness to tolerate downtime is their new priority and a need.

What to look in a data center operator for Zero Downtime
It’s critical that enterprises ask the right questions to data center operators while evaluating them. Best practices and simple processes can significantly impact your business continuity.

Automation & Predictive Analytics: According to data shared by Uptime Institute, human error is responsible for about 70% of all data center failures. Automating administrative tasks can bring down errors and reduce downtime. Adding more AI to automation will provide administrators with predictive insights that can help mitigate downtimes. According to Gartner, half of cloud data centers shall use advanced robots with AI and machine learning capabilities by 2025, which can lead to 30% higher operating efficiency.

Over the past few years, predictive analytics has made tremendous progress. This has been made possible due to the increasing adoption of Artificial Intelligence in data center operations. It offers real-time data analytics and actionable intelligence, enabling the data center operations team to identify and predict failure points and immediately respond to them. For instance, the AI-infused Building Management System (BMS) at Yotta data centers monitors various systems in the facility to detect and respond to any point of failure in real-time, thus ensuring optimal operating conditions for uninterrupted operations. Similarly, predictive maintenance warns operators if a system or component is likely to fail. Real-time thermal monitoring through predictive analytics can prevent incidents like overheating of equipment, which can cause a failure at a data center, leading to downtime.

Also Read: How will Artificial Intelligence Drive the Growth of Future Data Centers?

Action Plan for Outages: In order to make their customers’ businesses resilient, data center operators must make their facilities resilient to any unforeseen incident. They must have a disaster recovery plan in place that details the steps to be taken in the event of a power outage. The plan must be tested regularly to verify that it is functional. This would include powering down systems, ensuring that generators are operational, checking the redundant systems, and monitoring temperatures. Upon spotting failure points, if any, necessary actions must be undertaken to fix them. It is crucial for data centers to maintain a comprehensive backup infrastructure to guard against data loss and ensure continuity of operations in the event of an outage.

Data Center Connectivity: The lifeblood of enterprises, data center connectivity plays a vital role in ensuring zero downtime. A redundant network and connectivity infrastructure is integral to ensure that businesses are assured of reliable global connectivity. Additionally, best practices like load balancing and failover mechanism can help data center operators prevent downtime as traffic gets redirected in case of an outage. Implementing several network solutions provides backup in the event of a network failure. Carrier-neutral data center connectivity helps improve security by offering protection against the risk of DDoS and other cybersecurity threats.

Also Read: The IX Factor in Data Centers – How do Enterprises Benefit?

Fire Prevention & Responsiveness: One of the most dreaded incidents, fire can wreak havoc in any data center facility. Not just it poses threat to workforce, but can also bring down a data center’s operations, while resulting huge damage to infrastructure which could take month to restore. Thus, a highly effective fire detection, prevention and mitigation system becomes an uncompromisable element of a data center. As a regulatory mandate, data center – like all commercial buildings – must have fire safety mechanisms in place. However, the bare minimum doesn’t suffice when Zero Downtime is the goal. Enterprises must look for data centers that are equipped with state-of-the-art modern fire detection and response systems which can assure that the heat of any incident doesn’t affect their business. Intelligent systems like Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA) help proactively thwart fire and ensure resilient operations. Similarly, Novec 1230 fluid-based fire suppression system removes heat and prevents fire before it starts. Its sensors automatically detect fire and initiate response within seconds.

Certified Capabilities: Uptime Institute has created globally-recognised Tier Standards for data center uptime and overall performance. The Tier Standards comprise four grades: Tier I (basic capacity level), Tier II (redundant capacity components), Tier III (concurrently maintainable with redundant components), and Tier IV (fault tolerant). Each tier builds upon the earlier tier. Yotta NM1 holds a Gold Tier IV Certification of Operational Sustainability (TCOS), which is the highest certification from Uptime Institute. Data center operators at Yotta hold Accredited Tier Designer (ATD) certification. They provide expert guidance in meeting the Tier Standards and ensure the data center is designed to be reliable and efficient, with the latest technologies.

High Uptime: Tier III Data Center Vs Tier IV Data Center

Tier III Data Center	Tier IV Data Center
99.982% uptime annually	99.995% uptime annually
<1.6 hours downtime annually	<26.3 minutes downtime annually
Concurrently Maintainable, N+1	Fault Tolerant, 2N or 2N+1
1+Shift Staffing	247365 Staffing
No continuous cooling	There is continuous cooling
No compartmentalization	There is compartmentalization

Also Read: How To Spot Expired Data Center Certificates

Zero Downtime – The New Norm
As digital economy booms at a rapid pace, there will be an increased dependency on reliable data centers in India. The digital shift and adoption of digital tools during the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the wide usage of internet services. A near-zero uptime or an uptime of at least 99.995% annually should be the objective to ensure minimal to no impact on business. As the cost of downtime is increasing, it is critical for data centers in India to ensure minimal to zero downtime.

Realising this, our data centers prioritise the highest levels of uptime that can be possibly achieved. In the event of a power failure, the facility can operate for 48 hours straight on backup. This, coupled with our state-of-the-art systems and operational expertise, help us deliver Zero Downtime to organisations hosted with us.

The IX Factor in Data Centers – How do Enterprises Benefit?

Posted on August 17, 2022March 16, 2023 by yotta

Today, as the world is becoming increasingly data-driven, it has become essential for businesses to have the right strategies in place, particularly in terms of connectivity. To compete in a dynamic marketplace and provide customers with quality services across regions, they must make the best use of available technologies. And to make the most of the hyperconnected world, it is necessary to take a closer look at the connectivity infrastructure and redefine it with today’s needs.

Data Centers – Gateway to the Digital World
Serving as storage and compute site for massive volumes of data, data centers have become a critical part of the modern data-driven economy. One can measure the value of data centers in terms of their ability to provide storage space, processing power and networking infrastructure. But the hyperconnected world is a new reality and it’s time data centers are harnessed as connectivity hubs, helping businesses reach global markets.

Data centers are often called the ‘gateway to the digital world’ because they provide connectivity to virtually everything, helping enterprises connect with customers and partners across the globe. But not all data centers do that!

What equips specific data centers to serve as one-stop connectivity hubs?

The answer lies in the ‘IX’ Factor.

An Internet Exchange, also referred to as ‘IX’, serves as a single point of connectivity to the global digital ecosystem, including Content Delivery Networks (CDNs), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Cloud Service Providers (CSPs). Amidst the need to deliver services to global masses, Internet Exchange points help enterprises take their services across regions without the need to set up dedicated infrastructure or establish cluttered connectivity that’s difficult to manage.

Major Internet Exchange companies are increasingly tapping data centers for setting up their points of presence due to data centers’ proximity to enterprises’ data infrastructure, which helps them reduce the transit path and offer low-latency connectivity solutions. As a result, a data center that houses Internet Exchanges is placed in a unique position to not just deliver reliable extended connectivity to worldwide networks but most notably in a streamlined, cost-effective manner.

Connectivity Simplified
Internet Exchange points are present in most metropolitan areas with a high population. These exchanges are maintained either by an association of members or a commercial enterprise. One of the major advantages of an Internet Exchange is that it reduces the requirement for a third-party network, which further leads to a lesser possibility of traffic bottleneck that could protract the response time. Thus, being in close proximity to an Internet Exchange has numerous advantages, including streamlined connectivity, lower costs, low latency, high bandwidth and simplicity.

And speaking of proximity, the presence of Internet Exchange points in the data center facility offers the best possible scenario. Here’s what enterprises gain with it.

Multi-cloud Connectivity: Organisations are increasingly adopting the hybrid multi-cloud approach as their businesses demand agility for diverse workloads. However, the key to reaping full benefits of multi-cloud is defined by connectivity between the core data center infrastructure and cloud platforms. Internet Exchange points at data centers address this need with access to a host of cloud platforms through single-hop, hassle-free connectivity.

Service Delivery to the Last Mile: When expansion becomes a priority, ensuring seamless service delivery across regions becomes crucial. Further, connectivity to Edge networks defines an enterprise’s ability to meet the growing demands from distributed geographies. Internet Exchanges help connect your core infrastructure to distributed Edge sites, allowing your business to reach a wider consumer base.

Streamlined Management: Consider a scenario without an Internet Exchange, where enterprise IT teams are required to set up and manage multiple individual connections with their cloud and digital setups – eventually leading to complex management and lack of visibility. By providing a single point of connectivity to the entire cloud, CDN and ISP ecosystem, Internet Exchanges eliminate hassles and allow your teams to focus on business-critical tasks.

Accelerated Performance: Connectivity is only as good as its performance. Inconsistent connectivity is one of the major qualms of enterprises, especially when multiple connections are at play. With a single high-bandwidth, dedicated path to a gamut of networks, enterprises get uniform performance across their digital footprint.

Cost Optimisation: Phasing out multiple individual connections leads to shedding of redundant expenditure. By providing seamless access to a range of cloud platforms and networks through a single channel, Internet Exchange points in data centers offer significant cost-efficiency along with simplicity.

Today, enterprises need unified connectivity, particularly those with operations across the globe and those on the expansion path. Moreover, they must deliver services over an interconnected ecosystem. Checking all of the above criteria, Yotta combines the quality assurance of its world-class data center offerings with robust connectivity solutions by leading Internet Exchanges having their point of presence at Yotta. Enterprises, whether residing at Yotta or in their captive data centers, gain immensely from simplified global connectivity solutions, including internet peering, CDN, Global Cloud Konnect, Edge Connectivity and more.

How To Spot Expired Data Center Certificates

Posted on June 24, 2022October 4, 2022 by yotta

The availability and security of your applications and data boil down to the performance of your data center. And performance is achieved when the data center meets a range of different parameters – power redundancy, network infrastructure, cooling…the list is long, and can be exhaustive for your IT teams to evaluate.

Simplifying the process of evaluating a data center and to gauge its performance, certifications help enterprises understand the reliability of a data center for their business operations and its ability to withstand the impact of any unforeseen situation, without your business having to break a sweat for continuity and resilience.

Tier Certifications to the Rescue

Uptime Institute, USA is the leading, coveted and trusted authorised body that analyses a data center facility’s performance and issues them certifications. If you have been part of evaluating data center operators for your business, you have likely read or heard about Uptime Institute Tier certified data centers.

What Tier certifications mean?

Do you recall the last time you booked a hotel for your much-needed holiday? You probably found yourself choosing between 3-star, 4-star or 5-star hotels based on the services offered. Data centers are certified on similar metrics that determine the operational efficiency and uptime SLAs delivered to customers. The Tier certification system of Uptime Institute grades data centers on a spectrum of I to IV, with the latter denoting the highest level of performance, fault-tolerance and availability.

Design Certification – Only on Paper
When a data center operator prepares its facility’s design and submits the same to Uptime Institute, it undergoes extensive examination by Uptime Institute’s teams and upon its successful adherence to Uptime standards, the data center receives Tier Certification for Design Documents (TCDD). This validates that the data center’s design document meets Uptime Institute’s defined guidelines.

The Proof is in the Constructed Facility

But TCDD certificates come with a validity of only two years and is mentioned in the certificate foil, as shown above. Within the 2 years, the data center operators have to construct the data center facility, invite the Uptime Institute to validate the constructed facility and then secure the award for Tier Certification for Constructed Facility (TCCF) – which is valid for lifetime and is the final proof that the datacenter is indeed built as per the design.

Beware of Expired Design Certificates
Owing to discrepancies between design and the actual constructed facility, operational inefficiencies, exhaustive process and high costs involved in construction, many data center operators fail or choose not to apply for TCCF certification and try to pass off the design certification as their ultimate certificate. Do not take their word for it and insist on the Constructed Facility certificate. A design certificate is invalid post its expiry, and that leaves the data center practically with no Uptime Institute certification, and their customers’ infrastructure at risk.

When customers entrust a data center with their critical infrastructure basis TCDD, it becomes paramount for data center operators to deliver what was committed. Any compromise in the design and operational efficiencies can have adverse impact on customers’ businesses.

How to Verify Expired Tier Certificates?

Before selecting the right data center for your business, remember to validate their Uptime Institute certifications on: https://uptimeinstitute.com/uptime-institute-awards/list

Browse the list and search for your desired data center service provider to validate their Tier certification.

Data Center Build vs Buy: Benefits of Partnering with Data Center Operators

Posted on May 3, 2022October 4, 2022 by yotta

Digital transformation is accelerating and churning out data at never before pace. Organisations have been restructuring their infrastructure footprint to meet the evolving digital needs – of businesses, operations and customers. Regardless of scale, technology and nature of digitalisation, data centers form the core focus of any business. Third-party colocation services are, unarguably, becoming a preferred choice for a large proportion of enterprises – we have witnessed this trend during and post-pandemic continuing. This is evident through the growth of data centers and future forecast. According to Arizton Advisory & Intelligence, real estate demand for data centers is set to rise by 15–18 million sq.ft. by 2025 and by 2027, the Indian data center industry will pose $10.09 billion worth of opportunities.

Need for custom data centers
The surge in cloud uptake has made hyperscalers bullish on the Indian market and expand their operations. Data centers form their primary requirement for expansion – and they need massive capacities, which is often a hindrance in a market like India, where data center infrastructure is still in the growth phase. This leads them to leverage the existing data center infrastructure to set up availability zones to cater to the booming demand or build their infrastructure.

But it’s not just the hyperscalers. As the business grows, large enterprises with dependencies on captive infrastructure need scalable and reliable data centers to meet their current and future needs. Further, as they phase out legacy infrastructure and modernise their data centers, a holistic refresh becomes paramount, leading them to move out of on-premises data center setups and build a dedicated data center facility at a preferred location.

Meanwhile, hyperscalers must maintain committed SLAs and operational efficiencies that demand custom data center designs and specifications. Building a data center facility from scratch would be the best approach to accommodate these needs, but it also means increased time-to-market. It includes complex procedures – from land acquisition, regulatory approvals, design and construction, hardware procurement, and meeting the desired Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) ratio.

Factoring the top challenges

Cost: Building a data center doesn’t come cheap. Even for large enterprises, the upfront CapEx can mean a substantial investment.

Land procurement and approvals: Enterprises possess expertise in their core business. Procuring land and treading through approvals involves cumbersome processes, particularly in markets like India.

Design and construction: Contracting data center design and engineering experts further adds to the upfront capital requirements.

Supply chain: Procuring specialised equipment and hardware involves dealing with many vendors globally, adding to the complexities.

The direct impact of the above constraints includes delayed project completion and significantly greater time-to-market, which can affect your business in a big way.

Build or Buy: Let the experts do it
Whether buying or leasing a data center or building one, getting it done through a local data center player like Yotta offers significant advantages. Yotta possesses the resources, design and construction expertise, connectivity infrastructure, bulk hardware procurement capabilities, and operational skillsets that businesses can leverage and bank upon. Let’s look at some major ways hyperscalers and enterprises gain with outsourced build and buy models.

Cost advantage
Building a data center is expensive, and a lot of elements go into it – from power and UPS infrastructure, diesel generators, cooling systems, storage and networking hardware, and more. Hyperscalers and enterprises can ensure significant cost savings with the outsourced Build-to-Suit (BTS) model. The data center operator can leverage its economies of scale and eventually pass the cost advantage.

Faster Time-to-Market (TAM)
While buying a pre-constructed data center definitely enables your business to go-live within the shortest possible timeline, the custom-build approach extends it owing to the time incurred in land parcel identification and acquisition, government approvals, design and construction, equipment procurement and more. If a custom-build data center is your business need, you can still bring down the time with the Build-to-Suit approach. Domestic data center players also better understand regional topography, which is an essential factor in the design, construction and overall efficiency of a data center.

Efficiency
Data centers are known as power guzzlers, and there is a visible shift towards increased efficiencies and sustainability at various levels – business, industry and customer. Power usage effectiveness (PUE) is a critical factor in ensuring energy optimisation, and it holds greater importance, particularly for global hyperscalers for meeting their sustainability goals. While buying a data center may provide pre-defined PUE ratios, a BTS data center offers greater scope for meeting the desired levels. However, it must be noted that regional climatic conditions largely affect PUE ratios. For example, in a tropical country like India, PUE of 1.5 is considered the lowest achievable level. This is mainly because the Indian climate requires HVAC systems to remain operational 24×7, unlike European regions where natural conditions complement the cooling process.

Network and connectivity
Network and connectivity is the lifeblood of a data center, which eventually determinines performance and business outcomes. The cost of connectivity, however, can account for a significant portion of the overall CapEx. Additionally, with current restrictions on laying own fiber further act as hurdle. Data center operators are better placed to get bulk fiber connectivity, which eliminates time and effort intensive process of negotiating with connectivity providers, while bringing greater cost advantages. Data center operators’ extended connectivity with Internet Exchanges, content delivery networks, cloud service providers further helps ensure seamless connectivity to a host of services.

Compliance
Maintaining compliance with various regulatory norms, guidelines and industry practices involves complex considerations. Uniformity in regulations in different geographical further adds to the complexities. Data center developments, for instance, are classified under commercial or industrial buildings standards, hence parking requirements are also determined accordingly, requiring provisions such as on-grade parking according to local directives. Fire compliance is another critical area that demands critical consideration. Possessing extensive experience in design and construction, data center operators can eliminate the complexities and help make your data center compliant.

Management
With widespread migration from CapEx to OpEx based consumption models, enterprises are shedding investments in keeping the lights on. Modern IT teams’ focus is channelled towards innovation and customer service delivery. Data center operations demand a 24×7, dedicated and skilled resource pool. Moreover, managing a data center building involves more significant complexities than a small captive data center. To avoid maintenance, monitoring and management hassles, enterprises can bank upon the inhouse expertise of data center operators who possess a team of domain experts, engineers, and IT personnel.

The future of data centers lies in ‘scale’. Data growth will continue to skyrocket, and the resultant demand for infrastructure will bolster the growth of data centers. Hyperscalers are bullish on cloud growth and will continue to ramp up investments in India. Led by business needs, an increasing number of enterprises will exhaust their existing data center capacities. While multi-tenant colocation may work for some, many large enterprises need dedicated data centers. The above factors remain key to achieving the end objectives. Data center operators are well positioned to cater to every evolving needs – from colocation, buy-out or build-to-suit. Yotta combines its data prowess in the data center industry with the Hiranandani Group’s capabilities in architecture, construction and power, while leveraging economies of scale.

The Changing Face of Data Centers with Sustainability

Posted on April 22, 2022October 4, 2022 by yotta

Once a good-to-hear buzzword, sustainability has evolved as a mandate for global corporations and governments alike. It has prevailed as a strong determinator of a successful business strategy, with commitments towards the planet becoming integral to their objectives. As world leaders set ambitious sustainability goals for their nations, the onus lies equally on the industries to collectively steer efforts in this direction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of India achieving net-zero emissions by 2070 at COP26 Glasgow reflects the government’s strong focus on fostering a sustainable, healthy and better planet for generations to come.

India is unarguably walking the talk in tackling climate change. Today, with private and public partnerships, many developmental schemes are framed to align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) set by the United Nations. Also being one of the least waste generating economies. The country has been a key player in shaping the Paris Agreement and has adopted various energy-efficiency measures. India has demonstrated one of the most successful campaigns on phasing out single-use plastic, amplifying the ‘Swachh Bharat’ mission and constantly contributing to the Earth’s wellbeing. Mumbai alone has announced a detailed plan to zero out carbon emissions by 2050 – a target that puts it two decades ahead of India’s national goal and makes it the first South Asian city to set such a timeline.

Efficiency is key
Data centers, over the years, have been notoriously known as power guzzlers. It is estimated that data centers globally consume around 200 terawatt-hours (TWh) each year. This even exceeds the total annual energy consumption of some countries. Data centers contribute around 0.3% to the overall carbon emissions of the world. This intense energy consumption can be attributed to their critical operations that demand them to run 24×7, but the change is now evident with the focus on bringing more efficiencies and embracing renewable energy sources.

Emerging markets like India, which are in the growth phase, stand in a favourable position to drive greater efficiencies owing to low legacy and ageing infrastructure footprint. We can take cue from Singapore’s moratorium on data center development due to sustainability concerns and channel our efforts towards more efficient, greener data centers.

A typical data center houses thousands of components that keep the facility running – servers, cooling equipment, chillers, power backup and generators, networking equipment, etc. All these require uninterrupted power. Hence achieving carbon neutrality requires data center operators to achieve energy efficiency in each component. Green, alternative energy sources form a part of the solution, but it’s not a master key. There is no master key; it’s only when data center companies evaluate and bring efficiencies in each element of their operations, that they stand in a position to make their facilities environment-friendly.

Taking a green leap
The growing realisation among enterprise customers and hyperscalers is leading to concrete actions. Boardroom discussions are witnessing environmental focus as an inseparable part of corporate accountability and business strategies. Interestingly, a green focus brings a host of long-term business benefits that can positively impact operations and the bottomline. Global enterprises and hyper-scale customers are pushing their data center operators to help them achieve their sustainability targets, thus resulting in focused actions by every stakeholder. For instance, some customers insert clauses into the agreements mandating data center operators to reduce a specified percentage of carbon footprint. In case of failing to do so, the data center operator has to bear penalties which can be as high as 20% of the total contract value.

Even the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has introduced requirements for sustainability reporting by listed companies under the Business Responsibility and Sustainability Report (BRSR). It aims to establish links between the financial results with its Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) performance.

Yotta embraces these developments positively. With our unwavering efforts to invest in building large data center capacities to meet the rising digital demands while investing in our planet, today, Yotta is able to deliver 100% green power to our customers and contractually commit to our global customers to reduce our carbon footprint, in turn helping them in meeting their Scope 3 obligations under the GHG protocol.

Taking a long-term approach, Yotta is building facilities to allow us to run 100% on renewables – whether offsite, through solar and wind coupled with onsite hydrogen-based co-generation and fuel cells in the future. With this, we are changing the entire outlook and efforts towards decarbonisation in the data center industry.

Setting new benchmarks
Yotta’s data centers are built with the lowest possible PUE (power usage efficiency) of <1.4 which are extremely good considering India’s tropical weather. In addition, our fault-tolerant Uptime Institute certified Tier IV construction uses automation in many of our power and cooling distribution processes, thus optimising our power utilisation further.

Here are the top ways how we are and how other data center players can ensure that data centers remain future-ready:

Data Center Site: The site where data center(s) will come up should have adequate space for onsite power generation and storage of energy. At the same time, data center built amidst a green surrounding tends to gain from natural conditions.

Carbon Offsets: Taking steps to reduce carbon footprints, data center operators can compensate carbon emission amounts by adopting measures like planting trees.

Upgrading equipment: Many data centers use old, less efficient equipment. Switching to the latest, more energy-efficient equipment helps a great deal. For instance, at Yotta NM1, we use lithium-ion batteries in UPSes for power backup – ensuring longer output with reduced charge cycles.

Operational excellence: A data center is a building where, space, cooling, power, water etc are utilised. A state-of-the-art Building Management System plays a crucial role in maintaining the sustainability of data centers. By deploying intelligent systems, temperatures in the facility can automatically adjust depending on the outside temperature or the IT load.

Resource optimisation: While using clean source of water, data center operators must also avoid water leakage which might seem negligible, but may add to the energy consumption. Additionally, as data centers need cooling and have to maintain adequate temperature, instances such as air leaks reduce the overall cooling efficiency.

E-waste management: Whether through in-house capacities or partners, e-waste management significantly helps reduce the environmental impact from discarded, old, and obsolete equipment and hardware.

Set on a mission to become a global data center hub, India’s data center industry will continue to grow at an unprecedented scale. However, sustainability and growth must run in tandem to make India a true data center hub and a successful one. Our focus on digitisation, with commitments to ensure healthy planet earth, will determine the future of businesses and the lives of our people.

How will Artificial Intelligence Drive the Growth of Future Data Centers?

Posted on February 23, 2022October 4, 2022 by yotta

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been around for quite some time now, disrupting businesses and sectors with its capabilities to boost performance and bring in operational efficacies. The data center industry is no exception. In today’s time, data holds a huge significance for any organisation, and what’s equally important is managing that data effectively. Once filtered and crunched, the harvested data proves vital to making strategic business decisions for companies. Hence, companies are investing in advanced automation tools for data processing and migrating to hyperscale data centers to upgrade their IT infrastructure. Explosion of data in recent years has led hyperscalers to innovate and deploy AI technologies in their facilities to handle tasks autonomously.

The use of automation technologies in data centers is hardly new. For example, Google has explained the use of DeepMind AI for cooling. However, companies are yet to leverage AI/ML to the fullest. Factors such as distrust in technology have obstructed many organisations to take a leap towards AI. While the most known use cases for AI deployment in data centers are temperature control and predictive maintenance, AI’s potential to enhance the efficiency of a data center infrastructure is far more than widely known. Let’s look at some use cases of AI in data centers that will change the future of the industry.

Managing Workloads

As data center workloads move upward with an increase in data, many businesses are looking towards AI to boost efficiency and cut expenses. AI can be used to determine the workload movement in a hybrid setting in real-time to the most efficient infrastructure that could be cloud, on-premise or edge infrastructure. As AI makes its way into the data center industry, organisations are adopting innovative approaches to handle their data to allow more use of robust AI techniques and analytics.

Gartner predicts that by 2025, 70% of organisations will shift their focus from big to small and wide data; this will facilitate more context for analytics and make AI less data-hungry. Small data approach provides useful insights with fewer data, whereas broad data offers analysis performed on various large, unstructured data in diverse data formats. Together, both approaches allow advanced analytics and AI, reducing the reliability of big data.

Mitigating people shortage

Automated technologies in data centers promise less human intervention in regular and repetitive tasks. It frees up staff from mundane activities such as storage optimisation, cooling distribution, security settings and so on and allows them time to focus on more critical issues. It not only achieves greater efficiencies but also reduces the risk of human errors while handling complex and diverse workloads. For example, at our Yotta NM1 data center, in case of a leakage in a chiller pipe, a sensor-enabled Leak Detection System not only diagnoses the leakage but also mitigates the problem in real-time without manual intervention. Upon detection of leakage in the chiller pipeline, the system automatically diverts the water flow from an alternate pipeline. All this can be managed without running the risk of downtime in the data center. Automation is creating a pathway for data centers to go from reactive to preventative, leading to predictive.

Maximising power efficiencies

Power consumption is one of the most critical issues for data centers across the globe. Energy costs surge by at least 10% every year; its increased use in high-density servers is also not sustainable for the environment. Deploying AI/ML technologies can be a solution to the increased energy use in data centers. Systems in data centers generate significant heat; traditionally, air conditioners, chillers, water pumps are controlled by Building Management System (BMS) to keep the temperature in check. However, it is not energy efficient. AI-based power management can help optimise cooling systems by analysing historical data and creating a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) prediction model, cutting power costs and improving efficiency.

Enhancing security

In a hyperscale data center, where several events occur together, it is nearly impossible for humans to monitor and alert everyone in case of threat situations. AI-powered tools have proven useful in such areas. For example, image and sound recognition capabilities are being used widely to enhance the physical security of a data center facility; AI analytics is being used as a video surveillance solution to make sense of data collected by security cameras. Machine Learning techniques are also being leveraged for anomaly detection, where the system is trained to identify usual patterns and detect the irregular ones.

For example, again, at our Yotta NM1 data center, we have AI integrated security cameras keeping an eye over critical locations. These cameras will raise a ticket to the security control room of the data center if they detect more than 10 people gathered at the front gate or if they detect an unattended object in the premises for a certain period of time. Without automation, it would take hundreds of security personnel to watch over the physical security of the data center 24/7, which can often span into acres. This technique is also helpful in predictive analysis, where the AI system flags off any unusual occurrence in advance to be checked before a system completely breaks down. Hence, data center security can be strengthened by using AI for self-learning threat detection and monitoring algorithms.

Data centers of the future will certainly be more AI dominant, and almost all functions in the facility will be automated. Though these technologies are only in the hands of a few large hyperscalers and enterprises, they will soon trickle down to other data center players as technology upgrades, trust grows, and costs are cut down. Moreover, given the digital adoption accelerated by the pandemic, these advancements will be seen in practice sooner than later.