Dollars and Sense: Deploying Modular Data Centers in the Financial Industry
Date posted: August 25, 2014 Posted by Stephen C. Madaffari
Six years past the financial crisis of 2008, the economy is on an upward swing and business is booming in many different markets. One market where this is very evident is the growing financial sector. Smart phones have given rise to mobile and internet banking, Bitcoin has taken hold as an acceptable virtual currency, and financial news and information travels as fast as social media can carry it. As confidence in the nation’s financial future improves, so too does the need for faster processers, higher security measures, increased data storage capacity, and significant dependency on reliability to manage the technology that keeps the wheels of commerce in motion.
As a result of these trends and developments in the industry, financial institutions are increasingly turning to modularity as a solution to keep pace with their data demands. But not all industries are created alike. For the financial industry, a few best practices would go a long way towards integrating a modular data center concept.
1. Create the highest level of reliability in your facility:
Globalization and regulations in the financial industry have added significant complexity to the requirements needed for data harvesting. But one thing that hasn’t changed is the necessity of reliability within the facility to keep uptime optimal. Understanding the correct internal set up on site will allow a facility to meet the high tier levels of reliability expected in the market. Modularity allows the opportunity to build in redundancies on all utilized equipment and also creates programmed capital outlay to build these redundancies over time, if needed.
2. The importance of speed and flexibility:
Predicting the ever growing changes and evolution of the market requires creativity in design. Taking a modular approach will allow for quicker utilization of the data center and cultivate a plan to improve flexibility with regard to maximum deployment of capacity. The ever growing trend of data center consolidation spurred on by the overbuilding of capacity made end users realize that bigger isn’t always better. A new trend towards modular is directed to streamlining the specific changes to the amount and types of financial data being gathered and shifting to the quick needs of an increasingly mobile audience. Modularity manages the expectation of capacity increases by allowing staged, scalable design build outs.
3. Have a solid plan that fits the overall goals of your financial institution and revisit it frequently:
As stated in earlier commentary, flexibility is the key component to supporting significant changes to a company’s business needs. Let’s face it… today’s financial data center needs and requirements are much different from yesterday’s. Work closely with a modular provider to understand when these changes need to be considered with regard to the specifications of your facility. The redundancy and flaccidity that has been built into the original deployment plan will allow for a seamless transition should changes in technologies call for it.
If you need help evaluating whether or not a modular solution or the components of one might be right for your financial institution’s needs, contact Data Centers Delivered today or browse our website to see previous projects we’ve completed. We’ve partnered with several businesses working in the financial industry to help them answer why modular data center design solutions make sense for their operations. We can help you too.