Author: 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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

With a huge rise in digital activities, the number of data centers being created are increasing exponentially. As the number of data centers increase, there is a huge need for establishing connectivity between data centers so that they can talk to each other.

What is Data Center Interconnect?

Data Center Interconnect (DCI) is the technology that is used to connect two or more data centers over short or long range distances. Interconnection is required for not only connecting physical devices such as routers, switches, firewall, servers, etc. in different data centers to each other, but also to support requirements such as backup, IT management, business continuity and disaster recovery. Interconnection between data centers can be established using distributed exchange points hosted in vendor-neutral or any colocation facilities. Data Center Interconnect is also crucial in balancing and sharing resources, especially when demand or traffic grows exponentially.

The need for interconnection between data centers

Due to the huge growth in SaaS services, adoption of work from home, cloud, etc., connectivity has become a very crucial for any business user. The need of the hour is to improve the latency and response time between user and data center. Due to hybrid IT solutions data center traffic has increased exponentially between data centers. This has increased the importance of establishing connectivity between data centers. Interconnectivity helps in creating many-to-many connectivity options, which is of immense value in a connected era. It helps enterprises to reduce latency as distances are reduced. This helps in improving the overall user experience and cost.

Types of Interconnection

Depending on the specific requirement, different types of data center interconnect initiatives can be explored. Some of these include:

Peering Exchange: A peering exchange is a marketplace that allows ISPs to connect with each other and exchange IP traffic for their mutual benefit. This avoids costs that could be incurred in third-party networks for ensuring connectivity. It also helps in improving the end user experience due to shortest and best network route.

Cross Connect: A cross-connect is established through a physical cable that provides direct connectivity between two termination points in a data center. Cross-connects are primarily used to create a direct link between two individual units within a data center.

Inter-Site Connectivity: This type of connectivity is used to establish a physical or virtual data connection between two data centers to reduce link failures, load balance and reduce traffic congestion.

Blended IP: This option combines multiple connectivity options of ISPs to provide a single reliable and redundant connection. Blended IP service providers provide firms with the option of a single redundant Internet connection without the option of negotiating with multiple service providers. This help to get highest speed data transfer as compared to single provider.

The advantage of a data center provider over a telecom service provider

When compared to telecom service providers, data center providers can offer multiple networks which can ensure redundancy. Data center service providers also can purpose-build a Data Center Interconnect service that is specifically customized for enterprise workloads. This allows better scalability and makes it relatively easier for organizations to meet their DR or business continuity requirements.  This is vital in the multi-cloud era, where enterprises need the flexibility to interconnect different data centers without being constrained by interoperability challenges. This is done using open standards-based Data Center Interconnect technology.

Data center service providers also provide a single central option for connectivity irrespective of where the customer’s infrastructure is situated. The customers also do not need to separately approach hyperscaler’s or telcos for connectivity options. The data center provider is responsible for giving next hop connectivity for hyperscaler’s from a single port, from where the traffic can be further diverted.

Benefits for hyperscaler’s

Due to the increasing number of digital activities and initiatives, the demand for hyperscale data centers has shot up exponentially. Networking giant, Cisco, has estimated that hyperscale data centers will account for 55 percent of all data center traffic by 2021. However, hyperscale data center providers cannot grow at the pace they want to without collaborating with service providers who provide colocation or edge data centers. Hyperscaler’s can leverage interconnected data centers provided by colocation providers to quickly expand and be closer to users where the services are expected to be delivered.

By using interconnected data centers, hyperscaler’s can quickly establish a presence in a region that they do not have a presence. With partnerships with major Internet Exchanges, data center providers providing Data Center Interconnect services help in lowering down costs and bringing down the cost of bandwidth as more traffic is locally exchanged.

A must have technology

Data Center Interconnect today, is not optional, but a must-have requirement. This is necessary for ensuring better connectivity at lower operating costs. Looking at the transformational role of the Internet and its impact on the economy, Data Center Interconnect is a critical technology as it can not only make Internet access more affordable, but it can also help in improving the speed of access by a significant percentage as traffic can be routed locally and quickly than international routes.