|
If you are a Trekkie like me, then you would know Commander Data,
played by Brent Spinner in the TV series “Star Trek, The New
Generation.”
Commander Data is an android that knows almost
everything that is stored in his own “data center.” According to
Wikipedia, his storage capacity is reportedly at 93,132,257.5
gigabytes, while his processing speed is at “60 trillion
operations per second” or 60 teraflops!
Can you imagine if instead of data centers,
businessmen would have Commander Data by their side during meetings,
storing, processing and pulsing information at unimaginable speed?
The pulse of any business
Data centers are the pulse of any business. They
are 24/7 operations avoiding every second of downtime. Found in
corner rooms or a larger facility, data centers house information.
Through servers, data storage, networks and applications, this flow
of information inside the company and to the outside world must be
managed efficiently.
Alvin Lim, business development manager, Data
Center Solutions, Services & Software of APC-MGE Asia Pacific
said that, “Data centers play a critical role in most
organizations today. The data centers house mission-critical
applications that companies cannot afford for them to fail.”
Indeed failure is not an option as data centers
continue to evolve as special environments with integrated backup
power, security and other environmental applications like air
conditioning and fire suppression. All these technology contribute
to ensure business continuity.
Last week, I visited EMC’s South Asia
Development Lab (SADL) at the Changi Business Park in Singapore.
This facility is the first of its kind for EMC in the Asia-Pacific
Japan region. “SADL is not just a showcase of EMC’s cutting-edge
technologies, but also a very powerful vehicle for EMC to respond to
customers’ needs and challenges. It is unique to EMC as it
integrates our corporate engineering with sales and services to
enhance total customer experience through our proven solutions and
capabilities,” said Steven Say, director of SADL.
While older data centers would have cables under
the floors, I saw elevated cable trays at this facility.
Pradeep Nair, solutions center manager, said:
“Cables are routed above the ground thereby providing a plenum for
air to circulate below the floor. This will lead to maximum energy
efficiency and minimum environmental impact. In the long term, the
objective is to reduce the energy consumption of the data center and
become ‘green.’”
Outside the region, data centers are being built
in countries like Siberia and even Mongolia, where a South Korean
Internet provider is working with the government in building a data
center that will house the government’s IT systems and Internet
infrastructure. In Vietnam, a new 1,000-square meter data center
worth around $10 million will soon rise in Ho Chi Minh City. It will
host and provide backup services to government agencies, financial
companies and banks.
Threats to data centers
Pradeep said that loss of data may happen in the
form of security breach, human error or a deliberate act, system
malfunction, natural disaster and fire. “Our data center uses
water-based fire suppression system. Other gas-based suppression
systems are also common in Singapore.”
Fire prevention and detection systems are also
typically zoned so that even if a fire does break out it can be
contained and extinguished within a small part of the facility.
Alvin Lim added that the biggest threat to the
data centers is the lack of properly trained and experienced
personnel to operate and manage the physical infrastructure within
the data centers. “As a consequence human errors occur and this
causes downtime of services,” according to Lim. He recommended
that companies should set aside budget for training data center
operations personnel. “If possible, engage a consultant from
companies that have experience in operating data centers.”
And let us not forget the undersea earthquake
that hit Taiwan in December 2006. Due to damaged undersea cables,
Internet and telecommunications services were interrupted in many
countries like Hong Kong, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and
Thailand (Repeated only two weeks ago in the mid-east).
Other data on my mind
For nearly one year, my UST Advertising thesis
students and I managed different types of data in our minds. And
like data centers, every bit of information was processed to produce
a thesis. Congratulations to my Thesis 2K8 Team who successfully
defended their thesis last week. They are Eia Belveder, Kristine
Buendia, Jeeno Marco David, Jessa de Guzman, Franchesca Genato,
Miguel Gutierrez, Christine Kiac, Kristel Leonardo, Gian Nealega,
Andrea Ong, Lloyd Querijero, Marianne Quan, Jacklyn Remo, Chico
Santos and Ingrid Torricer.
Now, they are ready to fly and join the real
world.
And yes, it is truly a “great way to fly”
with Singapore Airlines. SQ is really one rare brand that meet and
goes beyond what they promise to their patrons. It always took less
than a minute for flight attendant Chie Hwee Chen to give me an
extra glass of orange juice, a blanket and a complimentary deck of
cards. Why can’t other airlines we know also make the flying
experience consistently (without any downtime) a great way to fly?
Finally, allow me to greet my wife, Cecile
Gabutina-Velez of McCann Erickson Philippines. It was her birthday
yesterday and that is one piece of data I won’t ever forget.
|
