Every day, we check emails, post our latest updates to various social media platforms, and some even manage their personal blog or website. Have you ever wondered what is behind all these online activities? When you upload/post something online, where does the data go?
The answer is DATA CENTER. The data center is the backbone for many important daily online activities. Its roles are to make sure we can check our emails 24/7, upload and download photos easily, keep our website/internet business up and running, and many more.
What Forms a Data Center?
- Facilities
This includes basic infrastructure such as power sources, air conditioners, ventilation & exhaust system. Note: Air-Conditioners & cooling system are a must to keep all hardware running at their most optimal level/efficiency.
- Electricity
A data center consumes a large amount of energy especially for the cooling system. To put things in perspective, a single data center consumes power equivalent to over 10,000 individuals. And this does not include the power consumed by battery bank, generator & redundant power sources.
- Software
All data centers required highly specific & advanced software to manage the entire database and maintenance. Besides, the software must be ready to serve and provide maximum stability to the whole data center in future upgrade and restoration.
- Hardware
One of the advantages of data center is the scalability of customized/ selected server rack. To meet higher demand in the future, a good data center must always be ready to incorporate the latest technology.
- Services
Many data centers hire the best database engineers, networking storage engineers and others IT personnel to provide the best services or support. The team of experts is responsible to monitor the operations and maintain IT and infrastructure equipment around the clock.
BOOST EFFICIENCY OF YOUR IN-HOUSE IT DEPARTMENT
If you choose a dedicated 3rd party provider, such as Exabytes, you won’t have to pay for electricity and cooling costs, and your in-house IT department can spend more time working on something more important, which in turn leads to HIGHER EFFICIENCY.
There is also an opportunity for virtualization, which can help your business to become even more efficient.
SO, IS OUTSOURCING A GOOD OPTION?
If you outsource the service to a professional and experienced hosting provider, your business will be able to save plenty of money, time, and troubles, too.
In addition, when you outsource, the various environmental aspects of a complete data center including power, cooling, fire suppression and security (physical & virtual) are well taken care of by a central management system.
The cooling components in Lakeside Technology Center
The Largest Data Centers in the World
Here’s the list of the TOP 10 largest data centers that occupy the entire building.
| Ranking | Name of Data Center & Location | Owned by |
| 1 | 350 East Cermak / Lakeside Technology Center | Digital Realty |
| 2 | Metro Technology Center, Atlanta | Quality Technology |
| 3 | The NAP of the Americas, Miami | Terremark |
| 4 | NGD Europe, Newport Wales | Next Generation Data |
| 5 | Container Data Center, Chicago | Microsoft |
| 6 | Microsoft Dublin | Microsoft |
| 7 | Phoenix ONE, Phoenix | i/o Data Centers |
| 8 | CH1, Elk Grove Village, Ill. | DuPont Fabros |
| 9 | Microsoft Data Centers in Quincy Washington and San Antonio | Microsoft |
| 10 | The SuperNAP, Las Vegas | Switch Communications |
Source: http://www.datacenterknowledge.com/special-report-the-worlds-largest-data-centers/
