Communications Crossroads - Summer 2008 - (Page 30)

“RIGHT-SIZE A PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND DESIGN A PLATFORM THAT’S FLEXIBLE FOR YOUR BUSINESS,” HE SAYS. THIS PROVIDES THE FLEXIBILITY TO HANDLE, SAY, 60 TO 80 SERVERS OR 100. … SUCH A CLOSELY DESIGNED PLANNING CYCLE IS A NECESSITY FOR ANY TELECOM TO MOVE QUICKLY TO RESPOND TO CONSUMERS’ NEEDS, COTTULI SAYS. “The equipment could date back to the 1950s or ‘60s,” he says. And because the normal cycle time is relatively long, this drives long planning cycles and long data center life cycles, there’s a desire to extend switches’ life cycles as well. However, old switches may not be repairable, partly because newer technicians may not be familiar with such old equipment. Cottuli says that when switches start showing signs of aging, many telecoms start thinking about rebuilding data centers nearby or rebuilding existing ones from scratch. “One part of the planning process should be the disposal of old equipment,” he says. One way is to provide old switches to developing countries for reuse. Or it could be refurbished for reuse or recycling. Recycling companies will recycle old switches following regulatory guidelines. Other companies may want to recoup some of the equipment’s dollar value, Cottuli says. For instance, equipment containing signiﬁcant amounts of copper can be valuable and that should be considered. And depending on the size of the old data center, there could be enough equipment to ﬁll a dozen 40-foot trucks if the center is a 40,000-square-foot facility. Some can be as small as 2,000 square feet though and hidden away in a residential neighborhood as a small brick building. That switching is transferred to a larger regional data center where heavy switching, processing and maintenance go on. Over that are national data centers that can be in the 100,000-square-foot range and include ERP systems and other enterprise-class platforms as well as enormous data bases, says Cottuli. says. This provides the ﬂexibility to handle, say, 60 to 80 servers or 100. A telecom can build a scalable modular system to handle any load, and that can continue to be scaled up. Such a closely designed planning cycle is a necessity for any telecom to move quickly to respond to consumers’ needs, Cottuli says. Usually, building and planning cycles are mismatched to business demand cycles, he notes. Michael Wassermannn, director of marketing for Liebert AC Power Systems, says that on the computer side, virtualization spreads the load over many computers or concentrates it onto fewer computers. “You’d think everyone does virtualization. However, there’s not a high percentage of data centers that do—it’s less than 30 percent,” he says. Cottuli also notes the advent of large Storage Area Networks (SANs), which rely less on server-based disk drives. Virtualization helps to move content to SANs and there are higher compaction ratios and techniques to optimize storage. “Big storage and network players are very involved in this and we see lots of demand for housing it,” says Cottuli. Basically, high-density computing is done by compaction of many servers into a single IT rack and agility is needed to meet cooling and power requirements. That’s APC’s claim to fame. Cottuli says there’s much demand for APC’s power and cooling solutions, particularly in virtualized Virtualization Another challenge: virtualization. “Smart front-end decisions about server architecture will save money in every other area,” Cottuli says, including savings in cooling and energy usage. Smart virtualized architecture allows the movement of business process applications across multiple platforms. Multiple systems allow consolidation or compaction, meaning 40 servers could host what once took 100 servers. While fewer servers consume less power, there’s also an additional load on each, thus an additional draw of power. The ideal infrastructure for this equipment is designed to operate most efﬁciently at 60 percent to 80 percent of capacity for the datacenter, with some bandwidth for future growth. Cottuli likened such efﬁciency to cars which operate most efﬁciently at certain highway speeds. Such decisions about data centers can be made in advance, he says, to optimize efﬁciency and energy consumption. “Right-size a physical infrastructure and design a platform that’s ﬂexible for your business,” he 30 COMMUNICATIONS CROSSROADS www.ustelecom.org http://www.ustelecom.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Communications Crossroads - Summer 2008

Communications Crossroads - Summer 2008 Up Front Contents TeleBites Delivering the Broadband Future Deriving Revenue from Today's Broadband World The Right Way to Operate Data Centers Buyers' Guide Industry Calendar Advertisers DotCom Index to Advertisers Straight Talk

Communications Crossroads - Summer 2008

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