IO Blog
Data Centers and Earthquakes
Data centers located in earthquake zones require business continuity contingencies that go far beyond the measures used to protect systems and data from more commonplace threats, such as fire, weather and crime. While a powerful earthquake is rare, its impact is swift and usually devastating. An earthquake can, without warning, transform a functioning data center… View Article
Server Virtualization Best Practices
With server virtualization now firmly embedded in the data center mainstream, a growing number of businesses are focusing on how to squeeze the greatest value out of their virtualized investments. Since server virtualization is based on the proposition that enhanced utilization will inevitably lead to improved efficiency, enhanced performance and lower costs, it’s only natural… View Article
Tips to Improve Network Performance
It’s no exaggeration to state that networks lie at the heart of every data center. Without fast, efficient and reliable network support, servers and storage systems become little more than expensive pieces of metal furniture. Obtaining the best possible network performance is an important first step toward ensuring overall data center excellence. But where to… View Article
How to Tell If Your Data Center Is Losing Momentum
Every business wants to have the best possible data center. Yet perfection, and even “really good performance levels,” are elusive goals. Furthermore, many organizations that do manage to reach a state of data center nirvana eventually discover that they’re unable to stay atop the pinnacle for very long. Pushing a data center to new heights,… View Article
Cloud Computing: What Does and Doesn’t Fit
Running applications in the cloud can save your business both time and money, but only if you know what you’re doing. The truth is, not all business applications are equally suited for use in a cloud environment. That’s because the cloud works better with some types of applications—such as virtualized apps—than others. Confused? Don’t know… View Article
Making it Modular
You’ve probably heard by now how a modular data center can provide a fast, flexible, reliable, cost effective and energy efficient way of deploying an always-on IT and network facility. Modular data centers are gaining popularity because they can help any business gain more compute and network capacity without having to build or expand a… View Article
Transitioning To a Virtual Data Center
The data center is dead! Long live the data center! A major benefit of virtual machines and cloud computing is that businesses no longer have to fret about where their servers are located. Your organization can be based in Arizona, New York, the U.K. or even Antarctica and have the same level of server access… View Article
The Data Center and the Data Warehouse
A growing number of businesses are creating data warehouses—or expanding existing data warehousing deployments—to gain a variety of benefits, including data mining, data visualization, online analytical processing (OLAP) and improved decision support capabilities. A successful data warehouse’s foundation resides on performance, availability, scalability, communications and cost. Deficiencies in any of these areas can undermine a… View Article
The Heart of Cloud Computing: Networks
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) defines cloud computing as “a model for enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.” Notice the word “network” at… View Article
Trends in Data Center Cooling
LIQUID COOLING In the early days, liquid cooling was used in mainframe computers. Now, companies are developing several types of rack-level liquid-cooling solutions that bring chilled water or liquid refrigerant closer to the server itself. Rack-level liquid-cooling solutions include rack doors with sealed tubes filled with chilled water that cool the air leaving the server;… View Article