Data Center Management Issues: Own or Rent?

Today data center management looks to consolidate and invest in more modular and energy-efficient data center designs. According to this report on Tech Target, he question, more than ever, is whether it's better to own or rent. The article also provides the opinions and advice from enterprise CIOs who weigh in on the topic of owning vs. renting.

"'There are a lot of different factors at play,' said Bob Laliberte, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) in Milford, Mass. 'When you own, you have a lot more control. To a lot of people, that's crucial. They can restrict who gets into the physical space as well as the firewall.' The financial industry, for example, is consolidating fast due to all the mergers post-meltdown -- but because of sensitive data, prefers to maintain control.

"For the most part, however, the days of building 300,000-square-foot facilities that cost hundreds of millions of dollars and years to complete are over, Laliberte said. 'By the time you're in it, the technology is obsolete.'"

"That's one reason why modular, point of distribution-based data centers are gaining steam, with offerings from IBM, Sun Microsystems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co. and others. Instead of a build-out that lasts months (or years), you can order one and plug it in six weeks later. Plus, they're rapidly scalable, Laliberte said: 'When you need to scale, you add another pod.'"

Read the Full Story at Tech Target