Kevin Leahy who is Dimension Data’s chief architect for virtualisation and cloud believes there are a number of drivers that are shaping the data centre strategies of CIOs, the result of several macro-economic, geographical and developmental shifts including location, policy and automation and cloud communities.
Cloud computing has emerged as a means to embrace globalisation without having to establish new data centres in the new geographies.
Leahy says that with globalizing as an accelerator of the pace of business change, the locations in which businesses are looking to operate are growing.
“Many organisations are looking to enter entirely new markets – even operating on a global scale – in order to remain competitive and enhance profitability,” he said.
For example, says Leahy, a European educational institution might look to sell its services in an Asian country “serving students from the other side of the world might not immediately appear feasible.”
According to Leahy, cloud computing has today enabled the institution to realistically pursue this opportunity by running this section of its business school out of a public cloud facility based in Singapore.
“Data centre professionals must factor their organisation globalisation plans into their data centre strategies, and consider how cloud-based models can enable expansion into new markets and territories,” adds Leahy.
Risk is working its way to the top of the list of considerations regarding identification and selection of the optimal data centre location. Following recent earthquake incidences around the globe, for example, it makes sense to move primary facilities away from areas with high levels of seismic activity.
