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Data centers are at the heart of an enterprise’s infrastructure. These hubs contain critical data that power countless business functions. Maintaining these crucial facilities is an arduous task.
While these physical and virtual environments must connect seamlessly, the operational demands and associated costs leave enterprises in a precarious position. So they look to data center managed services to fill the gaps.
The article below examines this market, the most common types of data center managed services available, and their benefits to global businesses.
What are data center managed services?
Data center managed services encompass a range of outsourced IT solutions. Based on the goals and resources of the enterprise, these services streamline operations across day-to-day infrastructure management, security, disaster recovery, and more.
Businesses entrust these critical functions to providers to achieve more efficiency, resiliency, and adaptability than possible with in-house teams.
Why do global enterprises need data center managed services?
Global enterprises face specific challenges due to their scale and geographical distribution. Maintaining multiple data centers across regions requires significant resources, expertise, and 24/7 vigilance.
A typical enterprise operates a traditional data center, uses colocation facilities, and relies on public cloud services. Given the distribution of data across these hybrid networks, ensuring seamless connectivity between systems, offices, and end users is more difficult.
Consultants offer solutions based on the infrastructure in place, optimizing traffic flow and performance regardless of the complexity and diversity of the environments.
Let’s dive into the most commonly sought-after services below.
1. Advisory and design
Future-proofing for scalable and sustainable data center infrastructure solutions is challenging for multi-location enterprises. The current infrastructure, growth projections, and business goals determine how to proceed. Providers advise on anticipated needs and build a roadmap tailored to the client.
Strategic considerations for energy-efficient technologies and power usage effectiveness influence planning. A desirable partner uses design practices beyond sustainability trends. For example, cross-connects create smooth data exchange and application integration between different facilities and cloud providers.
Already valued as a $20.9 billion market, Global Market Insights projects a 15 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) through 2032, primarily influenced by design efficiency drivers.
2. Remote infrastructure management
Day-to-day management includes routine maintenance, troubleshooting, and monitoring. Round-the-clock support ensures the enterprise’s data center infrastructure is always operational, minimizing downtime for maximum productivity.
In addition to remote services, providers offer on-site assistance for hardware replacements, upgrades, and equipment emergencies. Known as ‘smart hands,’ these dispatched technicians save the enterprise from deploying its personnel.
3. Data center migrations and integrations
Whether moving to a new facility, consolidating infrastructure, or adopting a hybrid cloud strategy, data migrations are serious undertakings. Engaging a data center consultant to handle the entire process guarantees minimal business disruptions.
Unlike internal teams prone to delays and varying priorities, service-level agreements (SLAs) provide strict project deadlines and maximum downtimes throughout the migration’s execution.
4. Security and compliance
Data center security is paramount because enterprises store their most critical data in these facilities. Services include vulnerability assessments, intrusion detection and prevention, security orchestration, and incident response.
Providers also manage compliance, ensuring data center operations adhere to industry standards and regulations such as GDPR, HIPAA, and PCI DSS.
5. Lifecycle optimizations
Lifecycle optimization services maximize data center investments. Enterprises need partners that go beyond continuous performance monitoring to enhance value and reduce costs.
These services include analyzing infrastructure utilization, identifying bottlenecks, and recommending improvements to optimize resources proactively. Enterprises then know their data centers operate efficiently and align with business needs.
6. Cloud managed services
As enterprises increasingly move data and adopt new cloud technologies, managing these virtual environments requires special attention. Within the cloud ecosystem, primary services include infrastructure setup, application deployment, security, and cost optimization.
Expertise with the major public cloud providers and integrations with private cloud infrastructure and traditional enterprise data centers is how third-party operators show their efficacy.
7. Data backup and resiliency
Robust backup and disaster recovery solutions minimize downtime during data loss events. These services include data replication to secure locations, regular cloud backups, and the ability to restore systems after an attack or natural disaster.
Without these data protection strategies in place, businesses face catastrophic consequences. Lost revenue, productivity, and reputational damage are the biggest concerns, making testing these solutions and failover procedures a critical part of the services package.
Benefits of data center managed services
Enterprises that engage data center managed service providers see a host of benefits:
- Reduced capital expenditures and operational costs.
- Improved operational efficiencies and resource utilization.
- Advanced security measures and proactive threat monitoring.
- Always-on support staff across every required timezone.
- Unburdened internal IT teams with availability to focus on core initiatives.
The right partner offers reliability and the promise of esteemed service for every anticipated and unanticipated need. A data center consultant’s flexibility is its most attractive trait, considering enterprises live and die by business continuity.
Conclusion—Using a connectivity partner for holistic data center management
The nuances of data center management should never hinder an enterprise. As data ecosystems become more expansive and diverse, internal teams face an infeasible skills and resources burden.
Data center managed services provide a strategic advantage for streamlining operations, improving global connectivity, enhancing security, and reducing costs. Many service options are available to businesses depending on goals, current infrastructure, and budget.
By offloading data center design, security, infrastructure management, performance optimizations, cloud management, migrations, and disaster recovery responsibilities to third-party vendors, enterprises are free to focus on core business priorities.
Partnering with Advantage gives you a holistic connectivity approach focused on operational and cost efficiencies across all IT assets. Contact us to start future-proofing your enterprise today.