All Africa, January 8, 2015 By Emma Okonji
Companies have been urged to focus more on their core businesses and leave the management of their data to core data centre operators.
Managing Director of Rack Centre Limited, a Tier 111 Data Centre operator, Mr. Ayotunde Coker, who gave the advise said said this would create ample opportunities for big and small organisations to generate more money from their investments for business expansion and continuity.
Coker told THISDAY in an interview in Lagos, that companies would not only be distracted with complexities of data management, but would also find themselves battling with non-revenue generating assets in their balance sheets.
According to him, “Sitting as the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of any organisation is always a tough job because it impacts on every aspect of the business, be it hunan resources, finance, and even core banking system. CIOs take tough decisions that in most cases, affect their business relationships with the company’s management.” The enlightened CIO, he said, would not want to invest in building a data centre because it will amount to wastage, since he can conveniently move his data to a data centre operator for proper management. CEO wants to save cost and it will pay them better to handover the protection of their data to data centre operators like Rack Centre, and concentrate on their core business, Coker said, adding that it will give organisations peace of mind and higher returns on investments, if they avoid investing in building their own data centres.
“In most cases, fear of insecurity of data, always push organisations into building their own data centre, which for me, is a distraction on the part of the organisation. As a CIO, you need to understand what gives your organisation the best interest margin, and then catch up with that. You need to understand how your Information Technology (IT) system is able to deliver the agility that will enable your customers to have a delightful experience, rather than battling with the challenge of maintaining a data centre. It should rather be left to data centre operators like Rack Centre to use its expertise to properly manage data for organisations, Coker said.
Speaking on the benefits of having an independent data centre manager, Coker said it comes with several benefits for the customers. “It gives customers full assurance of the safety of their data, security wise, and this is essential to any business, be it small or big. Data Centre investment is huge and looks like a non-earning assets on the balance sheet of any organisation. So what data centre operators like Rack Centre has done, is to carry that burden off the shoulders of organisations, since it is not their core business in the first place to operate a data centre, giving them enough time to focus on their core business,” he said.
Speaking on the cooling system of Rack Centre, its Head, Marketing Communications and Channels, Mrs. Ejieke Maduka Ezeadiugwu said the data centre operates with censor based Air Optimiser, which ensures adequate cooling.
According to her, what the Air Optimiser does is to generate the exact amount of cooling air required by the equipment in the IT rooms and them supply that exact amount of cooling that is required, such that it does not generate more than or less than the cooling required by the equipment.
“This is the reason why our data centre is not under very low temperature that could be freezing to human. If the cooling system in the equipment room is not controlled by the censor, there will be condensation and the moisture from the condensation can conduct electricity that can burn the board and damage the equipment. So with the Air Optimiser, we are able to maintain high cooling efficiency that will preserve customers’ data in the most appropriate manner,” Ezeadiugwu said.
