Big Data Needs Will Drive Data Center Expansion

Shoe-buying preferences, family medical histories, annual household income – there’s a lot of data being stored about people, in a lot of places. Welcome to the rise of “big data,” vast repositories of information companies analyze in order to deliver a better product or to understand their target audience.

While data scientists may be the ones who analyze the data, decide what’s meaningful and how to apply it, there are many people within an organization that may need access to data every day. As such, for companies that rely on big data, physical data centers will likely continue to outpace cloud data solutions, because access is faster.

Data lakes, space and security

Some businesses aren’t quite sure how they’ll use the data they’re collecting, so they dump all the raw data into “data lakes.” But these data lakes take up an enormous amount of server space, and they could be subject to security risks, according to Gartner.

Businesses that do dump raw data into lakes have to consider compliance requirements. Medical records, for example, can’t be dumped into an easy-to-access repository without some oversight or password protection.

The need for high-performance computing

Managing excess data can present problems for companies that house their own data centers. That’s when it may make more sense to move data warehousing to a colocation data center.

Colocation centers tend to offer archiving, storage and deduplication – practically essential for companies with data lakes. In addition, high-performance computing (HPC) clusters can return results quickly for data scientists who need immediate answers.

Compliance concerns

Depending on the type of data you’re collecting, you may have different compliance concerns. So if you’re considering offsite data storage, you should make sure a colocation facility understands the appropriate level of compliance, such as:

• Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) guidelines
• The Sarbanes-Oxley Act
• SSAE 16 Type II

When an audit arises, you’ll appreciate knowing your colocation facility has followed compliance guidelines.

Data centers will grow

As more businesses try to harness the insights associated with big data, expect to see more colocation centers popping up around the United States. Like most industries, though, the centers that have been around longer will have a better grasp on what businesses need most from their data center, so be careful about choosing a brand-new entity to house your data.

Lifeline Data Centers offers customers years of expertise and regulatory compliance, along with outstanding security. Schedule a tour today and see what we have to offer.

Other resources:

• Infographic: The 22 Data Center Compliance Acronyms You Need to Know
• White Paper: Why Data Center Compartmentalization is Important
• Lifeline One Sheet: What You Need to Know About Lifeline Data Centers

Rich Banta

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Rich is responsible for Compliance and Certifications, Data Center Operations, Information Technology, and Client Concierge Services. Rich has an extensive background in server and network management, large scale wide-area networks, storage, business continuity, and monitoring. Rich is a former CTO of a major health care system. Rich is hands-on every day in the data centers. He also holds many certifications, including: CISA – Certified Information Systems Auditor CRISC – Certified in Risk & Information Systems Management CDCE – Certified Data Center Expert CDCDP – Certified Data Center Design Professional