Even if a company goes to a colo or the cloud, some information technology is bound to remain in the legacy data center.A key step in deciding whether to upgrade an existing data center or to move to a new data center, a colo, or the cloud is to take a close look at the legacy data center. Organizations should ask themselves the following questions, says Robert Cassiliano, CEO of Business Information Services and chairman of 7x24 Exchange.
• Will the legacy data center have the power, cooling, and space capacity to meet future requirements?
• How old and inefficient is the infrastructure?
• How does the electrical and mechanical design of the infrastructure compare with the latest design techniques?
• How much would it cost to upgrade the aging infrastructure?
• Can critical applications run in colocation or cloud environments or are there restrictions based on executive management philosophy, compliance, security, etc.?
The answers to those questions will guide the decision of whether to upgrade or to pursue another option. “For example, if the build-out and migration costs to relocate to a new facility are significantly more than the costs to upgrade the legacy data center, that’s an argument for an upgrade,” Cassiliano says. The same is true if the current data center is in an area that is desirable to management, is in a hazard free region, meets technical requirements (i.e. low latency), and has access to required talent. Of course, he says, it’s essential to determine that the legacy data center can in fact be upgraded to meet future requirements, “including sufficient space for growth, additional power and cooling capacity, etc.”
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