Data Storage – Closet Space for Data?

A Different Way to Think About Data Storage

Everyone has closets at home where we often hide our personal treasures.  They are insured of course.

Everyone has closets at work. Unfortunately we find that many also hide their most precious resource, data, in closets. Data is not insured.

Why is this a terrible idea?

• Heat – Servers these days put out lots of heat. Few, if any, closets provide the type of cooling and humidity environment that allows servers to survive for long periods of time. How long could you go without your server while the melted CPU is waiting to be replaced?
• Security – Data is money. Servers contain data which for many organizations represents their crown jewels. Would you put ALL your company’s money in a closet on the floor with everyone knowing it was there? No. So, why do you put your crown jewels there? Money belongs in a bank where you keep it. Data belongs in a data center, not a closet.
• Access – If the data is in your closet it’s likely that you can only access it securely while in your office. In today’s highly mobile environment, you need remote secure access to your data. The networking technology to allow safe remote access is generally expensive and too risky to put in a closet. Imagine if someone got access to the closet and opened up your server to the entire world.
• Backup – If you’re like most businesses, you can’t operate without access to your email and data. In the case of a disaster at your office it’s likely your closet is destroyed. Keeping your servers and data in a secure off-site location means you still have access if your office is burned down. Can you say that if you’re servers are in a closet?

Get your crown jewels out of your office space and into a data center.

Data is money.

Your money belongs in a bank.

Your data belongs in a data center.