deadly data centre sins.the definitive buyer’s guide to de-risking co-location projects

7

What you will learn from this ebook

In eBook 1 and eBook 2 you’ll have learnt the Seven Deadly Sins of data centre design, how to avoid them and the different factors that characterise data centre Tier levels.

This final eBook helps you turn that knowledge into action. Matching availability levels to the associated risks, giving you a deeper understanding of your business’s risk profile and helping you to map your data centre supplier’s facilities against your own organisation’s tolerance for security and downtime.

ebook 03

part 3 of 3

The definiTive buyer’s guide TO de-risking cO-lOcaTiOn prOjecTs 2

The definiTive buyer’s guide To de-risking co-locaTion projecTs

about the authors

Manek Dubash is an analyst and journalist with more than 25 years experience. Focused on business technology, he observes and comments on enterprise infrastructure issues for a range of industry-influential websites including The Register, ZDNet UK, Computer Weekly and CloudPro, and produces reports for research firm STL Partners.

Scott Gripton joined SSE in 2010 with a wealth of knowledge and experience within the data centre arena. Scott’s expertise has been greatly utilised on our new data centre journey, helping us build our data centre estate throughout the UK. Today Scott is Data Centre Manager ensuring our customers are receiving the most competitive and technically enhanced solutions to suit their needs.

Commercial data centres are ultimately about two things. Firstly, they must provide an appropriate environment for your IT assets. Secondly, they must appropriately mitigate the many risks (or sins!) associated with using them.

A lot of thought goes into choosing a location for a data centre and then a lot more goes into its design, build and operation. Suitability, reliability, security and accessibility are the key aims.

100% reliability and 100% security and 100% accessibility are noble goals but ultimately unaffordable for the majority. Compromise is necessary on your side and by the data centre operator. Compromise introduces risk. Understand the risks inherent in every data centre design then apply those to your own organisation’s tolerance for risk and you’re on the right track.

Study our Seven Deadly Sins and then formulate your position. Knowledge, as they say, is power.

Who should read this ebook?

This is the third and final element in a series of eBooks designed to provide impartial advice for CIOs, CTOs and IT management professionals who are keen to understand how best to compare and contrast commercial data centre facilities, and then to assess how different suppliers’ approaches and system designs might affect any future

decision to use them.

ThE DEFINITIvE BUyER’S GUIDE TO DE-RISKING CO-LOCATION PROjECTS

ssetelecoms.com SSE Telecoms, 55 Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8BU

T 0845 070 1997 e enquiries@ssetelecoms.co.uk

The definiTive buyer’s guide TO de-risking cO-lOcaTiOn prOjecTs 3

check your tolerance for doWntime

introduction

Availability is important, but not every project your business undertakes requires downtime measured in mere minutes per year. While some applications are business-critical – an example being the website of a company solely or heavily dependent on Internet-based sales – other applications are less critical, for example test and development, where a few hours of downtime spread out over a year is less likely to affect the bottom line.

In essence, the more important the task, the greater the level of availability required. If your sales website goes down in an unplanned situation, the cost of that outage can be directly measured in lost sales. It therefore makes sense to cover that risk by paying for higher levels of availability, while this is less so for test and development servers. So tolerance to risk for each application used by your organisation needs to balanced against the increasing cost of higher Tiers of data centre design and operation.

the cost of downtime

The first step is to measure the cost of downtime. The determination of cost and risk can only be made with any degree of accuracy by someone within an organisation; there are plenty of online downtime cost calculators to help you get started. Such calculations need to take into account not just direct costs such as lost wages and sales, but also goodwill, reputation, and market share ceded to competitors. Once calculated, you can compare the cost of downtime to the cost of purchasing a given level of data centre availability.

1. Vision Solutions White Paper: Assessing

the Financial Impact of Downtime;

http://bit.ly/MsQh2t

Of Fortune 500 companies experience

According to Dun & Bradstreet

At least:

of downtime per week

This means it could cost a 10,000-employee

company annually1 paying an average of $56 all-

inclusive per hour up to

So downtime can affect everyone, and increases

both costs and risk.

59%

1.6hrs

$46m

ssetelecoms.com SSE Telecoms, 55 Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8BU

t 0845 070 1997 e enquiries@ssetelecoms.co.uk

The definiTive buyer’s guide To de-risking co-locaTion projecTs 4

tier levels

tier levels indicate availability

Data centre availability is typically measured using the Uptime Institute’s Tiering metric, where each Tier builds on the one below.

Tier I sites typically use few if any redundant components and offers the lowest levels of availability, a Tier II facility deploys some redundant components to reduce the number of planned maintenance downtime windows. In contrast, Tier III data centres are fully redundant and need no planned downtime, while a Tier Iv room will use fault-tolerant site infrastructure so that individual equipment failure cannot affect the IT operations environment2.

2. Uptime Institute White Paper: Tier

Classifications Define Site Infrastructure

Performance; http://bit.ly/MsQpPx

• Test & development servers

• Archiving and backup

• Passive marketing websites

• SMBs where IT primarily enhances internal business processes

• Telecoms PoPs

• Non-critical production systems

• Call centres with multiple sites

• SMBs with traditional business hours

• Scientific research without need for real-time results delivery

• Production systems for companies with presence in multiple time-zones

• Businesses whose reputation or financial performance would be damaged by downtime

• Compliance-driven applications – typically banking and finance

• Defence/security driven applications

• Critical infrastructure

• Companies needing any or all of the following:

• A global market presence (24/7)

• Continuous process availability

28.8hrs

I

III

II

Iv

22hrs

1.6hrs

0.8hrs

99.67%

99.75%

99.98%

99.99%

Tier Availability(annual downtime in hours/ uptime percentage)

Examples ofapplication suitability

The definiTive buyer’s guide TO de-risking cO-lOcaTiOn prOjecTs 5

checklist

use the 7 sins - choose wisely

We have seen in this and in our previous Deadly Data Centre Sins eBooks how measures such as equipment redundancy and organisational practices help to reduce the potential for downtime. Such measures include operational practices, power supplies, cooling systems, communications networks, location security, and fire protection. Their application in real-world data centres has been stratified into four Tiers or levels, as we have shown.

And now that you know how Tier levels translate into downtime and how to calculate the cost of downtime, you can use the checklist overleaf, which shows the two most common Tiers, to compare your data centre provider’s offering against the best practices for a given data centre Tier, and decide which Tier is appropriate for individual applications or projects.

continue overleaf for our tier and cost of downtime checklist.

The definiTive buyer’s guide TO de-risking cO-lOcaTiOn prOjecTs 6

ssetelecoms.com SSE Telecoms, 55 Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8BU

T 0845 070 1997 E enquiries@ssetelecoms.co.uk

Tier Tier I data centre: 28.8 hours annual downtime

Tier III data centre: 1.6 hours annual downtime

Power • Single (non-redundant) generator

• Limitations on consecutive hours of power generation

• Single source of external power

• Single internal power distribution path

• Generators are primary power source, utilities an economic alternative

• Generators rated to run continuously at maximum load

• Two separate high-voltage external supplies

• Dual paths for conditioned power delivered to all computing equipment

• N+1 redundancy for all power equipment

Cooling • Single (non-redundant) chiller plant

• Rudimentary monitoring of temperature and humidity

• Managed cooling, such as open hot aisle/cold aisle, or contained aisles

• Highly granular environmental monitoring

• Fresh air cooling where possible

• N+1 redundancy for all cooling equipment

Connectivity • Single (non-redundant) distribution path consisting of a two-or three-layer LAN design

• Diverse entry points for multiple comms links

• Access to multiple carriers

• Meet-me rooms for carrier cross-connects

• Diverse internal links

Location • Non-specialised facility, maybe a server room in a commercial building, location aimed at convenience not disaster avoidance

• Location carefully chosen to avoid potential causes of disruption, e.g. airports, flight paths, motorways,

COMAH3 sites, sites prone to disasters such as flooding, fire or earthquakes’

Security • Basic computing environment

• Basic industrial locks

• Rudimentary identity checks

• Purpose-built computing environment

• Unobtrusive building

• CCTV, surveillance & recording

• Identity checks

• Restricted entry points

• Managed entry and exit procedures

• Ram-proof gates

Business practices

• Management standards and certifications such as ISO9001 and ISO27001 are unlikely

• Compliance with:

• Quality management certifications, ISO9001, ISO27001

• Industry best practices e.g. PRINCE 2, PCI-DSS

• Environmental standards e.g. WEEE, Health & Safety Act

• Corporate governance legislation, e.g. Data Protection Act, Companies Act, Sarbanes-Oxley, MIFID

Fire prevention/suppression

• Office-standard fire protection measures

• Attention paid throughout to fire prevention, detection & suppression measures

• Continuous and pervasive air & smoke monitoring

• Systems intelligence to prevent accidental discharge of fire suppression materials

• Training of staff and customers in fire safety procedures

3. COMAH (citation reference number) is Control of Major Accident

Hazards. See http://www.hse.gov.uk/comah/

The definiTive buyer’s guide TO de-risking cO-lOcaTiOn prOjecTs 7

sse telecoms data centre estate

retail and wholesale data centre solutions

SSE Telecoms operates one of the largest data centre estates in the UK. With 16 Tier I facilities in towns and cities across the UK and a major Tier III facility in hampshire, all of which are connected to our national fibre network, we are able to engineer co-location solutions to meet a broad range of customers uptime and availability needs.

Our flagship hampshire data centre is a high density, high availability facility designed to provide a secure and well-connected service to all our customers.

The data centre contains 60,000 sq ft of pre-configured communal co-location space and private suites. Server, storage and networking equipment can be housed in communal racks, in shared suites, privately caged areas or fully bespoke private suites.

It also contains a further 60,000 sq ft of ready to configure space that can be precisely customised to individual wholesale requirements.

Engineered and certified to an exacting Tier III+ standard, the data centre ensures continuous system availability. Our operational processes are accredited to ISO9001 and ISO27001 to assure our customers that the security of their assets and the manner in which they are looked after is of the highest order. You can see the key features of this major site in Appendix 1.

The regional co-location sites make an ideal home for data replication, data archive, data backup, network access, aggregation and re-generation systems. Appendix 2 provides a brief overview of these sites.

our regional sites

Each of our regional sites was designed, built and is 100% operated by SSE and each offers a broad range of cost effective basic co-location and advanced communications services. We collaborate with each of our customers to make sure they receive the best possible service design, tailored to individual needs.

ssetelecoms.com SSE Telecoms, 55 Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8BU

T 0845 070 1997 E enquiries@ssetelecoms.co.uk

The definiTive buyer’s guide To de-risking co-locaTion projecTs 8

Conclusion

As we have seen throughout this series of eBooks, making a risk-cost trade-off is fundamentally about determining your appetite for risk for particular types of data. We have seen how a data centre facility’s physical fabric, location, equipment and its management processes can influence the risk of downtime. One further benefit perhaps not immediately apparent is that outsourcing your data centre requirements to a professional, dedicated organisation also helps to lower risk levels.

The key is that not all data centre facilities are created equal, so it is crucial that the services and availability levels that the operator provides and which you are prepared to pay for are appropriate to the project or application. This in turn means it is also crucial to understand what questions you need to ask the data centre operator and be able to map them onto your requirements and risk appetite.

Our hope is that this series of eBooks has given you precisely that: an understanding the risk levels associated with various data centre Tiers, the true cost of downtime, and a template for applying that knowledge in the real world to your next project requiring data centre services.

Here’s to the success of your next co-location project.

If you missed out on reading eBooks 1 and 2 you get them here:

What do we know?

SSE Telecoms owns and operates 17 co-location facilities ranging from a Tier I specification to Tier III. Read what Thomson Reuters likes about our facilities and why they chose our data centre here.

Of course, we’d like to help you make best use of our data centre facilities. If you’d like to talk with us, clicking here will take you to our enquiry form. If you are reading this on a paper print out, go to our website: www.ssetelecoms.com where you can find out all about us and easily get in touch.

ssetelecoms.com SSE Telecoms, 55 Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8BU

T 0845 070 1997 E enquiries@ssetelecoms.co.uk

eBook 1

eBook 2

The definiTive buyer’s guide TO de-risking cO-lOcaTiOn prOjecTs 9

AppenDIx 1: fareham enterprise data centre features

capacity

> 120,000 sq ft site capacity

> configured for racks, cages and private suites

> 4,000 rack capacity

assured power

> dual (2n) 8.8mva supplies traceable from separate and diverse 400kv hv sse owned sub-stations with an on-site hv distribution ring

> minimum of n+1 concurrently maintainable power infrastructure

> separate uninterruptible power supply (ups) with separate systems supporting plant and it load

> up to 12kW per rack in standard co-location space, with the ability to flex to 30kW

> 5 x 2.2mva generators supplying minimum of n+1 concurrently maintainable standby, supported by 72 hours of on-site diesel storage, with two suppliers on a four hour call out

> a and b power feeds to all racks, with single and three phase delivery options

> mechanical and electrical (m&e) infrastructure and security systems, monitored via in-house building management systems (bms)

> power energy management system monitoring, metering and recording of all electrical supplies from intake to rack

> 100kW rooftop solar photovoltaic green energy generation

hyper connectivity

> carrier neutral – six carriers available on-site. direct access to london telehotels

> the site is on-net to the sse telecoms national network and provides direct sse optical backhaul to over 20 london data centres

> diverse site entries for telecoms services

> dual carrier “meet-me rooms” cross-connected internally

> ip transit, internet access, managed wavelengths and ethernet vpn available on-site

> optical and ethernet access to over 230 sse telecoms pops nationwide

> direct optical connectivity to 16 sse telecoms regional data centres

ssetelecoms.com SSE Telecoms, 55 Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8BU

t 0845 070 1997 e enquiries@ssetelecoms.co.uk

The definiTive buyer’s guide To de-risking co-locaTion projecTs 10

AppenDIx 1, Cont: fareham enterprise data centre features

fire detection and supression

> multi-stage double knock very early smoke detection apparatus (vesda)

> multi-point addressable fire detection systems supported by gas suppression within the suites

> all suites constructed with fire rated steel clad wall panels, with no wet services in technical areas

cooling

> cold aisle containment as standard allowing for more efficient management of the it environment

> regulated, controlled and monitored temperature and humidity at server inlets within cold aisles

> high availability 2n crac units backed up by ups battery systems and hv generator sets

> minimum of 2n concurrently maintainable chiller plant and pump sets

> crac units fitted to exterior of pods ensuring separation of water services from technical areas

> free-cooling technology deployed on chiller plant

in-house support

> in-house 24 x 7 x 365 on-site mechanical and electrical engineering support with bms management

> 24 x 7 x 365 manned and additional remote managed service support options

> in-house data and telecoms cabling services

> customer service review programs

> full planned preventative maintenance programme

> packing material disposal and recycling facilities

The definiTive buyer’s guide TO de-risking cO-lOcaTiOn prOjecTs 11

AppenDIx 1, Cont: fareham enterprise data centre features

standards and compliance

> iso9001 and iso27001 certified

> tieriii+ verified by the pts site tier allocation rating system (stars)

> high standards of health and safety management

convenient, safe location

> m27 two minutes’ drive, just over one hour from london by train, situated between portsmouth and southampton

> excellent road, rail and air links

> shared and private office, with technical build areas available

> secured site car parking by arrangement

security

> business management and security management systems certified to iso9001 and iso27001

> anti-ram vee entry gates, anti-climb fencing and protective landscaping

> comprehensive internal and externally monitored and archived cctv

> 24 x 7 x 365 manned security

> formal access control methods, id verification process and man-trap entries

> physical access is controlled at facility entrance, man-trap entries and at suite and rack level

> area access controls and alarms

ssetelecoms.com SSE Telecoms, 55 Vastern Road, Reading, RG1 8BU

T 0845 070 1997 E enquiries@ssetelecoms.co.uk

The definiTive buyer’s guide To de-risking co-locaTion projecTs

Appendix 2: rEgional co-locaTion siTEs

capacity and connectivity

Sites are all connected directly to the SSE Telecoms national fibre network. Internet, National Ethernet and National Wavelength connectivity are featured at every site. Each facility enjoys easy and cost effective connectivity to the majority of commercial third party telehotels and data centres across the country.

Features Benefits

Bespoke rack and power options for up to 50 racks per customer

Best value regional co-location, close to key major towns and cities

2kW to 5kW per rack with 8, 16 and 32 amp feeds

Single service level agreements cover both co-location and communication services

DC and AC power options Direct connectivity to SSE national fibre network assures a wide range of high bandwidth connectivity services

Managed Wavelength Serviceslocations

Internet Access and IP Transit services Aberdeen Evesham

Ethernet VPN service options for secure multi-site connectivity

Birmingham Fareham

Direct connection to over 91 other UK data centres

Bristol Glasgow

Dedicated service support; remote hands services by arrangement

Burnley Newbury

‘Dark’ secure sites, CCTV monitored, remotely managed from our 24 x 7 x 365 NOC

Cambridge Nottingham

Full access control and secured perimeters Dumfries Peterborough

Full generator, UPS and N+1 cooling systems Dundee Sheffield

NB: Individual feature availability may vary from site to site

Edinburgh Stoke On Trent

eBook 03