End-user businesses need to take into account the
risks of suppliers going out of business as they sign up
emerging cloud and virtualisation providers.
Datacentre providers may be at risk unless they are able to
focus on efficiency, management consultancy Booz & Company has
warned.
Louise Fletcher, Head of the Global IT Practice at Booz &
Company, said: "The demand for data services is on the rise but the
datacentre is under tremendous pressure to cut costs, reduce energy
usage, and develop new delivery models.
"Those pressures - and the threat of rising factor costs such as
energy, labour or real estate - will force every datacentre
operator to re-assess how it does business if it wishes to remain
competitive."
Costs can be cut by as much as 40%, through virtualisation,
server consolidation, energy management, datacentre management,
global sourcing and modularsation, according to Booz &
Company.
Creating a virtualised server environment using virtualisation
technology can bring 15-20% savings, it said. The management
consulting firm noted that more than 50% of datacentre floor space
is underused.
Furthermore, larger sites can be run more efficiently than
smaller ones. According to Booz & Company, when a datacentre
reaches 10,000 square metres, operating expenses are minimised.
Booz & Company recommended datacentre operators use
high-efficiency power distribution systems and reduce cooling costs
through using district cooling or variable speed fans. Doing so
could reduce carbon emissions by 25%.
Datacentre managers can also restructure the datacentre's
operating model to increase efficiency. Booz & Company
suggested planning, administration and service management should be
integrated across all production platforms to allow for better
capacity planning and lower coordination costs.
Additionally, operators may look at remote infrastructure
management or outsourcing and process automation to reduce
datacentre workforce costs by up to 15%.