Home Tech News What are New York Data Centres?

What are New York Data Centres?

February 14, 2022

What is a Data Centre? A data center is a building where companies shared IT operations and equipment are stored.

This is for storing, processing and distributing data, and applications.

Data centers are essential for the daily operations of a company because this is where the companies most important information is kept.

It is of course the security and reliability of these data centers and the information they hold is one of the company’s greatest concerns.

These data centers have gone from being physical buildings to virtual models now that so many companies are using the cloud to store information.

This has opened up the opportunity for people in different parts of a country to collaborate. Or even people in different countries to work together.

Sometimes regulations will need a company to have an on-premises data center where there are no internet connections.

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Where can I Find a Data Center in New York?

There are currently 51 New York data centres.

What is the Role of a Data Center?

Data centers have become an essential part of any company’s operations. They are there to provide support for business applications. Some other functions include:

Data storage, management, backup and recovery
Productivity applications, like email
High-volume e-commerce transactions
Powering online gaming communities
Big data, machine learning and artificial intelligence

Almost every business and government body needs to build and maintain its own data center. Alternatively, they have access to an existing data center. Sometimes they will have access to both options.

There are a variety of options available to suit all needs. Renting servers from a colocation facility is available. Often these are operated by a third party.

They can also use the public cloud option which is also managed by a third party. Companies like Amazon, Microsoft, Sony, and Google use this option.

What is the Purpose of a Data Center?

Datacenter structures and requirements can be set up completely differently from each other.

If a data center is built for a cloud-based service its needs regarding the facility, infrastructure, and security requirements will be completely different from a private data center.

An online company like Amazon will need less infrastructure in comparison to a government based structure. As the government needs more security to protect classified data.

No matter the structural needs a well-run data center operation is obtained through a balance of investment in the facility and the equipment needed.

By using high-quality equipment the company can protect itself better against intruders and cyberattacks. This is important as these data centers store all of the company’s business-critical data and applications.

The purpose of a data center can be broken down simply:

1. Compute

The data center provides the memory and processing power to run applications which are mostly provided by high-end servers

2. Storage

Generally, the important company data is kept in a data center. It will be on media ranging from tape to solid-state drives. There will be multiple backups provided.

3. Networking

These are the interconnections found between data center components and the outside world. These will include routers, switches, application delivery controllers, and a few others.

The basic structure of a data center are:

1. The Facility

The actual space there is available for the IT equipment. Data centers are running non-stop and use a huge amount of energy to function.

It is therefore important to have an effective design so that the space and environmental control can be optimized. The equipment needs to be kept within a certain temperature and humidity range.

2. Core Components

The biggest role of a data center is for equipment and software for IT operations and the storage of data and applications.

These can incorporate storage systems, servers, network infrastructures like switches and routers. There can also be a variety of information security elements like firewalls.

3. Support Structure

This is the equipment used to safely and sustainably provide the highest availability.

There are a few essentials for a data center:

Uninterruptible Power Sources (UPS) – these are battery banks, generators, and redundant power sources
Environmental Controls – these include computer room air conditioners (CRAC), heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems, and exhaust systems.
Physical Security Systems – these are biometrics and video surveillance systems
Operations Staff – this includes staff who monitor and maintain IT and infrastructure equipment 24 hours a day

Because of the high demand for virtual servers and infrastructure, it has forced data centers to evolve and grow quickly to keep up with the demand. It needs to be constantly developing. More and more companies are moving from on-premise setups to virtual setups.

This includes the ability for companies to work on multi-cloud based servers.

4. Where are Data Centers Located?

A data center can be located anywhere most of the time. There are however a few key requirements that make the location better in certain areas:

The best location would be to be near an uninterrupted electrical supply. It is a bonus that electricity can be provided for a cheap rate. The ideal would be for the power to be created on-site
A huge consideration is to have the data center in a location that will not be negatively affected by natural disasters. It will be even better if the location falls out of the 11-year flood zone, if possible
It will make a difference to be close to business centers and fiber backbone routes
To have available access to cooling equipment. Some of these would be cool air from outside. Or power for air conditioning or water for heat transfer infrastructure. There are a few data centers that are located underwater or even underground for this purpose.

Conclusion

A data center is an important part of the business that we all use every day. We do not even know that this mammoth virtual system is serving us in our daily tasks.