With the adoption of cloud services, software-as-a-service (SaaS) or on-demand, businesses do not typically run all their applications in-house anymore. There is now more emphasis on connecting to those services that are run from third-party data centres.
In an interview with Networks Asia, Clement Goh, Managing Director, South Asia, Equinix, noted that as more companies implement a hybrid, or bi-modal IT framework, we are also seeing a higher demand for even better connectivity because of the need to link internal infrastructure with external services.
“Some of the more forward-looking companies are even parking their own infrastructure inside third-party data centres for enhanced connectivity. Being physically closer to a reliable cloud service, SaaS, and application service providers offer lower latency due to the shortened traffic flow. Additionally, having direct access to those service providers enhances security as applications won’t have to pass through a public network,” says Goh.
Once companies are connected to a data centre, software-defined technologies can be used for provisioning and routing of traffic between different services, according to Goh.
The following is the excerpt of the Q&A:
How is the focus on delivering a seamless and compelling customer experience across all new digital processes, channels and devices driving data centre transformation?
While a key function of today’s data centres is still to provide space and power for their customers’ storage and disaster recovery purposes, the landscape is rapidly evolving. In this era of mobility, there is an overwhelming demand for high-quality connections and data centres do much of the heavy lifting at the backend of networks.
Take bring-your-own-device (BYOD) for example. Whether you are connected via mobile or tablet, those devices are essentially just terminals running the graphic interface, and they access different networks while doing so. Most, if not all, of the applications inside those devices are hosted on the cloud which are in turn run, stored and processed in data centres.
For interconnection and data centre companies such as Equinix, providing robust interconnection and having established, dense ecosystems can bolster network performance to ensure end- users have the best customer experience. For instance, our Digital Media and Entertainment system is a brick-and-mortar platform for content companies, advertising networks, content delivery services, cloud service, and network providers to be directly and securely connected to each other in the data centre. By shortening the physical distance and traffic flows between them, we can lower latency and enhance connection speeds.
How is legacy infrastructure coping? Has the data centre refresh cycle chang?
Legacy infrastructure is becoming increasingly irrelevant as applications are no longer residing in-house, but are being hosted in third-party services instead. We are also witnessing an increase in companies outsourcing processing-based tasks as well as a rise in the usage of standardised applications – compared to the past where most would develop or write their own applications.
As for data centre refresh cycles, this is a non-issue for those who have outsourced their data centre functions to external vendors. For providers such as Equinix, we evaluate and evolve our offerings and physical infrastructure based on current and future trends, along with the uptake rate of services in the market. Connectivity, physical and cybersecurity, as well as power density and consumption are all important factors that are taken into consideration. Naturally, when compared to individual, user-owned data centres, we have the economics of scale to carry out a refresh more efficiently. It can be hard for them to justify a data centre refresh every few years simply because of the costs involved.
How can enterprises work with their data centre to deliver increased accountability and security needs?
Given the sensitivity of data and applications housed in third-party data centre, it is imperative for the provider to offer high standards of accountability, security and performance to customers.
From a customer’s standpoint, they can be assured via the signing of service level agreements (SLA) with the providers. SLAs and costs vary based on the customers’ needs and are mutually agreed upon. Banks would naturally need additional security measures due to the nature of their business or as required by regulation. However, some SLAs are global and work ‘across the board’ to provide consistency for enterprises with operations in various markets. One example would be our promise of >99.9999% uptime across our global data centre platform.
How will IoT impact data centres?
Let me paint you a scenario: Imagine having the amount of sensors that can receive and transmit data which outnumber our mobile devices by ten. The resulting data generated will reach an unprecedented scale and we can expect an exponential increase in digital traffic. Such a surge in traffic will lead to even more strain on the network, potentially causing problems with latency.
Once IoT hits us in full force, we will see the rise of Mega Data Centres. Those centres will need to have an even more robust network infrastructure and tighter security measures in place. It will be much bigger in size to cope with increased demands for space, power and processing, and analytics needs. Software-Defined techniques will also become more complex, due to the swell in number of applications and digital traffic.
Are we still seeing Green IT drivers in the data centre?
Green IT is still commonly being looked at from an organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility lens rather than from a commercial standpoint.
Nevertheless, many multinational corporates who work with Equinix do appreciate and expect us to continue our commitment of meeting green standards. We design, build and operate our data centres with high energy efficiency standards, and we have a long-term goal of using 100% clean and renewable energy for our global platform. In addition, we are also recognised for our sustainability achievements via awards and certifications from countries all around the world.
For organisations that advocate sustainability, green IT is set to become a criterion when selecting a data centre provider.