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Understand the impact of Covid-19 on data centres

Jun 30, 2021
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STT GDC India
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In this article, we analyze the effect of the coronavirus pandemic on data centres and global networks. We look at how the crisis is impacting supply, demand, new construction, and operations. Let's assess each facet more closely.

 

Rise in Demand

 

There is robust demand for carrier neutral data centres at least in some verticals. Cloud, gaming, and video streaming consumption are the main reasons for increase in growth for cross-connects and colocation space. Aggressive demand is also seen for educational access to cloud systems. Because of the pandemic, the average home is utilizing 38% more bandwidth per day.

 

Operators indicate that clients are adjusting their network links as required. They reveal that recurring revenues continue to be normal. Even before the crisis, more than 90% of providers had planned to enhance capacity.

 

Challenges Faced by Data Centres

 

Carrier neutral data centres face the following main challenges in their functioning during the pandemic:

 

Daily Operations

 

Data centres are critical for global interconnection and they are maintaining their daily operations though with a few precautionary policies. Providers are disinfecting regularly, conducting temperature checks, enforcing the utilization of gloves and masks, and following social distancing in workspaces. In most carrier neutral data centres, only essential operations are being conducted, and support and sales staff are working from home.

 

In many nations, client representatives are permitted to visit data centres, but they should follow the same protocols as the facility staff. Access limitations are more in other nations. But customers don't want their engineers to visit sites because of the risk of virus infection, therefore, there is a decrease in location visits. Onsite employees are providing increased support to clients who are unable to visit their facility.

 

Supply Chain

 

Most providers indicate that their supply chains haven't faced major disruptions. In fact, customers seem to be more affected compared to data centre companies. In case of shipping disruptions and factory closures that affect delivery of data centre equipment, operators have found workarounds to meet the challenges.

 

Increasing Prices

 

The pandemic lockdowns have spiked the demand for capacity in carrier neutral data centres and because of this prices are rising too. Only the financially fittest and strongest enterprises will survive the crisis and these companies will look to buy existing capacity.

 

IT giants have robust business models and almost a monopoly in many sub-sectors. The current emergency situation will see them become stronger which is not good for consumers and businesses that require cloud services.

 

New Construction

 

Fresh construction has been halted only is some locations. In Europe, there is complete stoppage of active projects as worker safety is being given importance. There is also temporary stoppage of pre-construction permitting.

 

In Southeast Asia, Singapore has temporarily halted construction activities. Thailand is allowing construction projects albeit with decreased workdays to enable workers to go back home during curfews.

 

Effect of the Pandemic on Data Centres

 

IT professionals are used to handling diverse issues related to data centres from dealing with a range of complex workloads to maintaining robust security to thwart hackers. However, the Covid-19 pandemic is posing new challenges to carrier neutral data centre operations.

 

The stringent travel restrictions mean that IT engineers may not get access to the vital facilities they are required to monitor. Quarantine restrictions may also limit their physical access to data centres to rectify hardware faults.

 

Another disruption is the lack of access to commonplace and complex parts like power equipment and fans. Restrictions in movement could delay their shipping from source geographic regions. Therefore, we can expect delays in the manufacture and distribution of these parts.

 

Minimizing Disruptions

 

Organizations with more control over their IT asset management will be better placed to maintain stable operations. They can know the global locations of their various hardware assets and can also quickly identify any faults that may happen in the current situation.

 

IT and business operations are being significantly impacted by the use of advanced technologies like AI, robotics, and automation. Enterprises are utilizing remote AI and automation to assure uninterrupted operations via proactive and automated fault identification and rectification capabilities.

 

Overall, the Covid-19 pandemic has not affected the data centre sector a lot. In fact, the crisis has caused many carrier neutral data centre providers to strengthen their colocation facilities so they can deliver more robust services to a world that is increasingly dependent on network connectivity.

 

STT GDC India is a leading player in the colocation services market in India with 18 sophisticated carrier neutral data centres in nine cities.

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