Last month IBM shared a report on the Cost of a Data Breach 2023 that walked through many examples of the true cost of vulnerabilities in enterprise data management. Understanding this impact is important to enterprises, considering all the innovations in AI and investments companies are making in doing more with their data in a safe and compliant way. Data centers play a central role in managing the physical side of critical data infrastructure for these innovation-driven businesses. There are a few key elements of data center operations that are worth sharing below.
Data centers are a key part of a modern enterprise's IT infrastructure with an operating focus on data protection, authorized data access, disaster recovery, cyber security, regulatory compliance, and legacy system support for business continuity. In managing these spaces, operations teams are responsible for ensuring high levels of uptime and physical security in individual spaces, which simultaneously maintains efficient energy consumption across the facility. All energy consumption is monitored closely and there are complex climate control systems to dynamically control efficiency and thermal conditions.
Following similar trends in commercial real estate, data center operations teams are challenged to manage their spaces with fewer staff. As a result, there are more opportunities to transition to smart building tools to create greater efficiencies for staff at the facility. Mobile first tools help data center operations teams manage physical access to spaces, track maintenance workflows, and monitor environmental conditions like temperature, humidity, and airflow. Sensors can be used to understand space utilization of floors and spaces, supplementing physical access control permissions and allowing for detailed monitoring by the ops team and compliance with customer security needs.
With centralized data on what people have access to within data center facilities down to the floors and server rooms, maintenance records, and energy consumption trends, data centers can provide a transparent view of physical security and efficiency. Data centers running on a smart building management system are best positioned to protect against the threat of a physical breach and comply with data protection regulations.
