Data Center Technicians

What is the role of a data center?

The first notion to understand is that of servers, these computers without screen or keyboard that are solicited remotely to respond over the Internet. They return the pages of the net to the user's computer. Depending on the request, several servers are requested. Physically, the latter are stacked on top of each other in cabinets, installed in large rooms, called data centers. Their role is to quickly process the data, as fast as a blink of an eye, and store them securely, making sure that no one will steal or lose them after a breakdown or mishandling.

Do all companies use it?

This is less and less to host its own servers, especially for security reasons. Only large companies have their own data center. In France, the major companies, such as Total or BNP Paribas, manage them internally so as not to entrust the problem of private data to a third party. In general, they have at least 3 data centers, if only to triple the data as a security measure. But it is very expensive.

As the number of data exchanged grows, so do the data centers?

Between the number of Facebook users or the videos exchanged on YouTube, the data volumes are scary. We will especially witness the rise of large-scale data centers. They accounted of the total number and should rise by 2020. Those Google or Amazon, for example, who offer their services to all businesses. Their data centers are industrial, large hangars with containers full of servers.

What are the major issues?

Many large companies run their centers on renewable energy, not just for environmental reasons but in anticipation of the risk of increasing the cost of electricity. Google has a power generation license like EDF or installs data centers in cold countries, or near power plants to minimize consumption. They are very much ahead in how to best rationalize the energy consumed and the useful, knowing that much of it goes up in smoke in the cooling process.

Source: Data Center Consulting