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Business models have gone through a complete cycle from centralized data centers to decentralized and now back to centralized. Businesses realize that data is their strongest asset and as such are making strides to assure its availability, security and redundancy.

In the simplest of terms, a data center is a centralized location for the storage, management, processing and exchange of data that exists within a specific enterprise or a specialized facility. Every company-small and large, public and private-has a data center.

Data Center Composition
In general, data centers can be divided into three types: enterprise, the central data processing facility for an enterprise is computer network; the Internet, a facility that provides data and Internet services for other companies; and storage area network (SAN), a network of interconnected storage devices and data servers usually located within an enterprise data center or as an off-site facility offering leased storage space.

Basic data center topology

A data center includes an entrance room that contains service provider demarcation points and equipment, a main distribution area (MDA) that houses core switches and serves as the central connection point, and one or more horizontal distribution areas (HDAs) that connect to equipment distribution areas (EDAs) that house electronic equipment. For added flexibility, a zone distribution area (ZDA) acts as a consolidation point to serve the equipment distribution area.

Data centers are comprised of a high speed, high demand networking communication systems capable of handing the traffic for SAN (storage area networks), NAS (network attached storage), file/application/web server farms, and other components located in the controlled environment. The control of the environment relates to humidity, flood, electrical, temperature, fire controls, and of course, physical access. Communication in and out of the data center is provided by WAN, CAN/MAN and LAN links in a variety of configurations depending upon the needs of the particular center.

Reduced data center topologies ideal for many enterprise installations

Evaluate Objectives
With daily system backups becoming a routine, downloading information must be done as quickly as possible, meaning data center cabling systems must provide fast data rates and be capable of reliably handling the stream of data while enabling migration to higher data rates when necessary. Pre-terminated components from reliable sources help to ensure consistent performance and eliminate the risk of system degradation or failure due to field termination.

Some data center installations may require more than 1,000 sq ft of rack space just to house storage devices. Some turn to remote storage locations, but any environmentally controlled real estate is expensive. Higher density cabling components can help reduce the amount of floor space, rack space and associated costs.

The driving force behind most data center designs is cost, but increasingly enterprises are taking the focus off the cost factor and view it as an essential investment. Flexibility is a key to designing a data center.

Data centers are immediate revenue-generating opportunities, but cabling the entire facility at start-up represents a huge investment. Implementing data centers in phases on an as-needed basis allows owners and operators to invest revenue from one installation phase into subsequent phases. Simplified installation and upgrades reduce the need for bidding, quoting and relying on labor that often must be scheduled well in advance.

Cabling System Considerations
Revenue is too valuable particularly for start-up companies to wait weeks, days or even hours for data center equipment to be up and running. Cabling components that are modular and simple to use without tool kits, consumables, field termination and training offer the fastest start-up time, better cable management flexibility and easier moves, adds and changes. To further cut down costs, components must be considered that are easy to order, inventory, replace and connect enable installation in phases.

Cooling is a very real concern in data centers with dense copper cabling which is one reason why fiber is gaining popularity in these applications. If you have hundreds of copper cables running back to your switch, you would actually be impeding airflow. Hence dealing with relatively smaller and thinner fiber cable, one can avoid the airflow block.