What are data centers? How they work and how to work on them

What is a data center?

Data Center is a devoted space within an organization that contains computer systems and its correlated elements.

Just imagine a fort with soldiers on their assigned jobs protecting and supporting a country, making sure all of its pathways are safe and effective. That is what a data centre is for a firm.

This centralized I.T space can be a building, just a space in a building or could be a couple of buildings. Its primary purpose is to store, administer and propagate the firm’s data. Data centers are very vital for the daily operations of an organization, and it holds a very critical place in the network. It is designed according to the computing network for data sharing and data management.

What current data centers look like:

Data centers these days are changing their structure drastically. Everything is getting virtualized. Traditional physical servers based infrastructure are being converted into virtual infrastructure data centers. These data centers distribute the workload among remotely placed infrastructures

Nowadays, data centers are a mixture of a lot of public and private clouds that support networking through movable devices. This way, the data centers can enjoy fewer expenses and a good human resource pool.

What are data centers responsible for?

In this fast-paced business world, data centers are responsible for a lot of activities on a daily routine. Some of these activities include

• Productivity check management.
• Communication and data sharing
• Customer relation management (which usually includes customer services)
• Enterprise resource planning

Machine learning and the use of artificial intelligence is a big part of the data center working.

These critical responsibilities are handled by the help of highly skilled people with CCIE Data Center training​ to keep the data centers going.

What data centers are made up of?

It may include networking equipment, computers, servers, firewalls for security and storage. Data security is considered to be of vital importance as data centers contain all the critical data of the enterprise.

Data centers require specifically designed areas for the perfect functionality of both the hardware and software. The space should have a UPS system to have in interrupted power supply, proper ventilation for heat, fire control system, cooling system, uninterrupted internet connection.

Distribution based on infrastructure:

Data centers are distributed in tiers according to the level of infrastructure. Some of the parameters for the qualification of a tier are uptime capacity, electrical pathways efficiency, cooling capacity. The tiers are from 1-4. Tier 1 is the simplest one, and tier 4 being the most sophisticated.

Tier 1 data center:

These data centers are a little more complex than a powerhouse. They are required to provide assured uptime and double the amount of cooling and power infrastructure.

Tier 2 data center:

Tier 2 data centers are a little more advanced than the tier 1 data centers. They are a bit more reliable and balance the cost and benefit ratio beautifully.

Tier 3 data center:

Tier 3 data centers are immune to little disruptions. They are required to provide the required facilities, plus a backup. They can handle small issues, but the user may feel the interruption in case of some complex problem.

Tier 4 data center:

These are the data centers that are forts. Any maintenance or repair does not stop the daily tasks. Nothing stops the continuity of data flow. Their backups are amazingly flawless.

Types of data centers:

Data centers are divided into four major types.

Enterprise data centers: these are built, designed and owned by the firms for their use only.they are mostly physically situated in the office premises.

Managed services data centers: these are the data centers that are not operated by the firms themselves, but are handed to an independent entity. The infrastructure is usually leased and not bought to save the firm from a large amount of investment.

Colocation data centers: these are the data centers where a firm rents some space in an already working data center.

Cloud data centers: in these type of data centers, cloud service providers host the data and applications.

The data center market and the jobs:

As technology is getting better and better, so does the need for data centers. Data centers are getting higher and higher on every firm’s priority list. According to Technavio, 2020- 2024 are the primary growth years for data centers. They will potentially grow by USD 304 billion during this time.

According to another report, from 2017 to 2023, the growth rate of the data center market will be at least 11% globally.

 According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the “Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services,” the hourly wages are almost four times more than of the federal minimum wage. 

In this decade, data centers are evolving further. Firms have started to invest more in data centers to compete in this evolving market. that is why this high paced industry is always ready to invest in I.T training and new competent people

The State of the Data Center Survey says that hiring new talent is getting more investment because of the certification requirements. Furthermore, almost 69 % of the participants suggested that they had to increase investment in data center IT and facility personnel, of which 33% indicated that the need of certification for qualifying the job has made that increase in the data center investments within the past three years, while 71 percent showed interest in increasing the investment three years in future.

All of this shows that the market trend is towards hiring people with proper certifications and acquiring them from a reputable source is of critical importance for pursuing a good career in the data center industry. A good example would be CCIE Data Center Certification​ to acquire skills to plan, design, implement & manage complex IT Data Center infrastructure.

Conclusion:

This is the right time to get into a career in the data centre industry. Get your certification and I.T training now from a reputable source and start now.