Data Center Types, Usage and Benefits: In today’s connected world where data is growing daily at a brisk pace. Data centers have become the backbone of almost every business or company that works or relies heavily on the Internet (well most of it!).

In simple words, a data center is a place where computer systems and other associated infrastructure such as servers, routers, storage, telecommunications systems and other data center components are housed. All these components work together to deliver error free and secured services to any company, whether those are storage requirements, safety or processing requirements or any other requirements.

These Data Centers are governed by Data Center Administrators, Technicians, Managers and other IT staff. Organisations or businesses consider various factors when choosing a data center. This article will help you in understanding “What is a Data Center?” and gives you an overview of the factors to consider, What to look for? When selecting a data center for your business.

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What is a Data Center?

A Data Center is a place where computer systems, servers, routers, storage devices and telecommunications systems are kept in a secured environment to save user or customer data securely.

A data center is a sizable, scalable distributed system usef dor for storing, processing, and managing any kind of data. It is also commonly referred to as a “Server Farm“. Server Farm is a farm of central processing units (CPUs) and a mass storage space typically made up of servers that provide an on-demand interface to centralized data store or data storage systems.

As data has been increasing rapidly especially from the past decade or so, after the rise of social media platforms. Data centers are mostly used to store huge amount of data, which is most commonly known as “Big Data”.

So, when anyone talks or discusses about data center he or she is generally talking about the services in the context of handling big data aspects efficiently. So, a data center can be generalized to include all big-data solutions, technologies and services, starting from data acquisition to data warehousing, feature selection and extraction, data pre-processing, advanced analytics, API management to deployment and orchestration.

Data Centers Brief History

Now a days, data centers have become a more prominent part of our lives as our dependence on digital information has grown.

The use of data centers can be traced back to the early days of electronic computing, but their popularity really took off in the 1980s as the businesses began using them to store large amounts of data and connect their computers to powerful mainframes.

Today, data centers come in all shapes and sizes, from small closets to huge warehouses, and they play a vital role in our economy by housing the servers that power the Internet, process big data and store our most important information.

Data Center Types

There are two main types of data centers:

– Enterprise Data Centers (Private Data Centers), and
– Service Provider Data Centers (Public Data Centers) 

Enterprise Data Centers (Private Data Centers or Company owned) are owned and operated by companies that use them to store their own data and applications.

Service Provider Data Centers (Public Data Centers or Third-Party Data Center Services Providers), on the other hand, are owned and operated by companies that provide hosting, data storage and other services to clients or customers.

Data centers are typically classified according to their size, which is determined by the amount of power they consume. A small data center might use just a few hundred kilowatts of power, while a large data center could use several megawatts. 

Different Types of Data Centers

A data center is a place where computer systems and related parts, like storage and telecommunications systems, are kept. There are several types of data centers, each with its own advantages and disadvantages.

The most common type of data center is the Enterprise Data Center (Private Data Center), which is designed to support the information technology (IT) needs of a large organization. Enterprise data centers are typically highly complex, with redundant power and cooling systems and multiple layers of security. They can be expensive to build and maintain, but they offer the highest levels of reliability and performance.

Another type of data center is the Service Provider Data Center (Public Data Center). Colocation Data Center is one such type of a data center. It provides storage space, power, cooling, and security for servers and other equipment owned by different companies or their clients. Colocation centers can be a cost-effective option for small and medium-sized businesses that do not need the full capabilities of an enterprise data center.

One more type of data centers are the ones hosted on the cloud. These are Cloud computing providers (data center service providers). They also provide data center services, which may be open to the public or used only by their own customers. Cloud data centers typically have high-speed networking connections to allow users to access their applications and data from anywhere in the world.

One more refined and private type of data centers are those which are designed to handle special needs of an organisation and requires more security and agility. These are the specially designed data centers and typically known as Special Purpose Data Centers. These are the ones used for research or military applications. These facilities often have unique features and advantages over other commonly available data centers.

What are the four main types of data centers?

The main types of data centers are stated above. Below are the sub-categories of above data centers which are most commonly available in the market today.

Data center requirements may vary based on certain factors such as structural, physical constraints, required densities, storage space, processing speed and more. Based on that, here are the four most popular types of data centers available: Onsite Data Center, Colocation Facilities Data Center, Hyperscale Data Center, and Edge Data Center.

The Benefits of Using a Data Center

There are many benefits to the companies of using a data center. Here are just a few of the benefits that every company enjoys by using a data center or its services:

Better Security

Data centers offer a much higher level of security than traditional server rooms or even on-premises data centers. This is because data centers have multiple layers of security, including physical security measures like guards and cameras, as well as logical security measures like firewalls and intrusion detection systems.

More Reliability

Data centers are designed to be highly reliable, with features like redundant power supplies, consistent power backup and cooling systems to ensure that your data is always available. In addition, data centers often have backup generators to keep your data safe in the event of a power outage.

Easily Scalable

A data center can also provide companies with the ability to easily scale their infrastructure and operations as needs grow. This is because data centers have access to a large pool of resources that can be quickly allocated to meet any business changing needs.

How Data Centers are Built?

Most data centers are built using a three-tier infrastructure. This, serves as the foundation of any conventional data center, with discrete blocks of computing, high storage space, and more multiple processing network resources allotted to support different and complex applications. These three layers are integrated into a single building unit called a node in a hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI).

How to Select the Right Data Center for Your Business

There are a number of factors to consider when selecting a data center for your business. The first is to consider the needs of your business, like:

• What kind of business are you running?
• What are your business goals?
• What are your IT needs?
• How much bandwidth is required by your company? Answering these questions will help you narrow down your choices.

Once you’ve considered the needs of your business, you’ll want to look and assess the different types of data centers. For example:

There are three main types of data centers, which are used widely by the businesses: These are colocation data centers, managed service providers, and cloud providers.

Colocation centers provide space for your equipment, but don’t manage it. Managed service providers will manage your equipment for you. Cloud providers offer both space and management, but typically at a higher cost.

Finally, you would like to consider the location of the data center. Do you want it to be near your office? Do you want it to be in a different country? Different locations offer different advantages and disadvantages.

Choosing a data center is an important decision for any business that relies on the internet. By considering the needs of your business, the different types of data centers, and the location of the data center, you can find the best option for your business.

Which is the largest data center, provider?

The China Telecom-Inner Mongolia Information Park is said to be the largest data center in the world by a number of publications. It measures one million square meters (10,763,910 square feet), costs $3 billion, and uses 150 MW in six data halls.