The work of data centers has become less reliable

The international certification center for data processing centers Uptime Institute in the newest poll revealed an unpleasant trend. According to the largest survey of specialists from 900 data centers and IT service providers from 50 countries, it became clear that over the past year, the reliability of the work of the centers has dropped significantly, while the efficiency of equipment usage has increased on the contrary. In other words, the client began to use services with less reliability.

In particular, the survey showed that in the past year since the previous questionnaire, the electricity utilization factor (PUE) fell to a record high and averaged 1.58. At the same time, the number of failures and failures in the operation of equipment for the year increased by 25%. Moreover, the consequences of failures have become much more serious than before. Interestingly, 80% of the interviewed experts are sure that equipment failures could be avoided, because they were mainly caused by downtime, personnel errors, power problems, network equipment failures and configuration errors. It is not difficult to understand that all these problems stem from a reduction in funding for the design and staff training.

And yet, the main blame is not on the respondents themselves, but on the circumstances. Specifically, the increased complexity of data center architecture, which is forced to adapt and integrate hybrid and cloud platforms, combining on-premises infrastructure, colocation and public cloud services. Specialists face difficulties, to which they are not ready and which have not been trained. And this trend will only increase. The results of the survey are indicative. Only half of respondents confidently answered that they understand in their companies and can correctly assess the relationship between economy and risks / productivity.

But progress can not be stopped. Although 31% of specialists noted cases of serious equipment failure in the last year (25% more than last year), about two-thirds of respondents (61%) confidently declare that the work of their companies (DPC) has become more flexible. Well, it remains to be consoled by the thought that the remote service, which was once unavailable, is organized according to the latest technology.