National Computer Warehouse Services remembers Hurricane Sandy in Manhattan

National Computer Warehouse Services remembers Hurricane Sandy in Manhattan

BY Mike Godek NCWS, LLC

On October 26, 2012, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency as one of the most powerful storms in United States history approached the Northeast.  By October 28, all flights throughout every international airport in the New York metropolitan area were cancelled and all services provided by the MTA were suspended.  Major roads and bridges were closed, as mandatory evacuations were being ordered for residents in isolated, coastal areas.  Then on October 29, 2012, one of the deadliest and most destructive hurricanes in history slammed the Northeastern seaboard bringing severe flooding, damaging winds, and massive power-outages throughout the coast. Hurricane Sandy’s widespread path of damage made it the second costliest hurricane in history, behind Hurricane Katrina in 2005.  The $68 billion dollars of damage caused by the super storm affected every state on the coast, but none more than New York. 

Hurricane Sandy’s death toll in the United States was 72, making it the second deadliest hurricane in history. From October 27- November 1, a total of 19,729 flights were cancelled.  Over 6 million people in 15 states were without power by November 1.  The NYSE and NASDAQ were closed for two days until it reopened on October 31.  The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy had tested the aging American infrastructure in major cities, such as New York City.

Before the storm struck, on October 26, 2012, team members from National Computer Warehouse Services, LLC met in our western Massachusetts office and developed a disaster plan for our clients in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut for critical mission services and if they needed to be executed.  Project managers and IT technicians were placed on call in strategic areas for emergency server and data center relocation's.  Management team members notified clients in the Northeast of disaster services and if they needed to be utilized.  As time passed, team members soon went into action.  Teams were called to the areas that were effected the most, especially in downtown Manhattan. Darkness and water flooded the city, as teams carpooled to enter.  Multiply clients lost power and needed emergency server relocation services to Massachusetts and upstate New York.  Within fewer two hours, servers were relocated from origin to destination.  A year later, National Computer Warehouse Services remembers the super storm that changed the Northeast and severity that these storms entail. 

Pride and commitment to service are the element s that team members thrive on at National Computer Warehouse Services.  We recognize the critical aspects of business and ethics that our clients portray, and that why we understand that “focus matters.”

Blue Hill company helps feed hungry people—Penobscot Bay Press

Blue Hill company helps feed hungry people—and pets | Photo | Penobscot Bay Press

CONFERENCE AND SEMINAR RELOCATION

As the world gets more and more dependent on the knowledge economy, there seems to be a corresponding and exponential rise in the need for seminars and conferences to brainstorm on new ideas, elucidate new thoughts, challenge norms and traditions, etc. In other words, learning in this type of environment has moved beyond the academia. Even people in sports business, health, automobiles, and every other industry under the sun has one seminar going on somewhere or the other.

Truly, much has been said about what to do in a conference or how to give a good seminar that would get the attendees really satisfied, the other angle of organizing the logistics for these types of meetings are often not brought to the fore. In as much as the talks are the main thing, how to move seminars and conferences from one location to the other is also critical to the success of the tour.

Getting the logistics right for a seminar is key to the success of the program. There are several things to consider when moving a conference or seminar from one city or country to the other. It can be as complex as moving a music band from one place to another on. Leaving the details and processes for moving in the hands of the speaker can be very counterproductive especially if it is a program that would tour many cities in the same country or even abroad.

Experience has shown that speakers in seminars of this magnitude need to be in the right frame of mind all the time to be able to deliver successfully and without any unnecessary distractions. Therefore, the need to hire a conference moving company or a seminar relocation services company is imperative.

Companies like this take care of the truck or flight management, they ensure that the ICT requirements (live video streaming, onsite projectors, etc.) are available and confirmed to work perfectly. It is also their duty to secure hotel rooms for the speaker and his/her crew, make sure vehicles are hired to take them to and from the venue without stress.

Seminar moving companies, or conference relocation services also take charge of setting up the hall, taking care of invitees or guests inventory and carry out on-call services too. Seminar relocation can be cumbersome just as conference moving can be confusing if not organized properly. This is why it is essential to allow professional seminar/conference moving and relocation services’ company to take care of that end.

It is their job to find the right location and hall, set it up to accommodate everyone expected, make sure that refreshment, stationary, souvenirs and the likes are available on time. They also secure transportation for the crew and their gadgets – especially trucks that can convey large, heavy equipment.

And at the end of the whole show, it is the duty of the professional seminar/conference moving and relocation services’ company to disassemble the whole equipment and the likes, haul them into trucks and transport them to the next location where they set up once again and repeat the process. They are indeed indispensable for a successful seminar or conference relocation experience. This is because that is their job and they have specialists committed to handling every single detail which in turn guarantees a smooth and rewarding conference or seminar.

The Ins and Outs of Data Center Security

A business—especially the bigger ones, requires a data center to manage and protect information which are relevant to their business’s operations. The data center is the business’s facility which houses their computer systems, electronic files, storage systems, telecommunication systems, backup power systems, environmental controls for the offices and buildings, security systems, and the like. Without data centers, businesses would have a hard time coordinating the overall flow of things in their business environment.

These facilities are greatly dependent on modern computer systems, and the technology used to maintain these centers need to be maintained and constantly updated in order to ensure the efficiency of their performance. Because a lot of businesses now rely on technological advancements to further help their businesses flourish, having an updated data center helps increase their business’s function at the top productivity.

These data centers protect the business’s profitability as well as their reputation and productivity. Because of the great impact that a data center can have on a business’s success, it is imperative for business owners to invest on top of the line data center security.

What is data center security for?

Simply put, this is the business’s way to protect their operations’ security as well as the security of their business environment among many others. Because their data centers house important parts of their businesses’ operations as well as files stored in electronic means, having secured data centers is a must to make sure that everything is protected and that nothing goes amiss.

Data centers are complex systems, and since they house a lot of necessary factors essential for the proper function and optimum productivity of businesses, it is the business owners’ duty to invest in a good data center security system.

These security systems can take care of the most important systems of the business and help protect them from any external as well as internal threats which may negatively affect the operation of various businesses. While it may sound like a purely technical system, one must understand how data center security is also concerned with matters such as:

ü      Data and user security

ü      Network security

ü      Physical security

A good system encompasses all of these factors along with other more advanced offerings to ensure the security of the businesses’ data centers and whatever information or equipment are stored inside.

Getting to Know these Security Systems

Because information and other pieces of equipment stored inside data centers are of top performance to the proper operation of the business, it is a must to protect them from breaches. These security systems protect files and systems used by the businesses to operate smoothly.

Data is not a physically tangible thing but because there are pieces of hardware which can be manipulated to store, transport, and even destroy data, data security is a must for businesses in order to keep a good record of their files and to maintain their trustworthy reputation.

Data center security systems should not solely rely on software. To improve the efficiency, these systems ought to be integrated with the existing security given to the infrastructure itself. Some of the most common methods of ensuring security include:

Biometric access control – These may range from fingerprint scanning, voice recognition, eye scans, and other similar features. With these security measures, only individuals who have been given the right to access the data centers would be allowed to pass. There must be a strict observance of who else these licensed individuals would take with them especially if they aren’t supposed to be in these areas.

Password systems – Classic but still effective, entering passwords or codes can still be used for these systems. One must remember not to divulge the password or keep any physical copy of it which may be used by outsiders.

Security guards – Do not underestimate having the physical presence of security guards in data center premises. They can ward off those who should not be in the area and can give better protection along with the system’s security.

Surveillance cameras – Should there ever be breaches, surveillance cameras may serve as very useful tools to identify the involved individuals. These can also be used as a remote way to watch over the data center in a more centralized fashion if roving guards are not available.

These are just some of the ways on how a data center can be kept secure and with the continuing improvement of technology, more efficient systems are bound to be developed.

Why Data Centers Have to Keep Running and Operational

Corporations and business enterprises create information that needs to be stored every day. They need more power to continue to store as much data as possible and keep operating. It is not enough to store information inside the actual location which is why collocation of data center hosting solutions is critical. It is doubly important to have data center facilities that can meet increasing demand and the high density of data being processed.

History of Data Centers & Data Center Hosting

The simplest way to explain what data center hosting is think back to the computer rooms that most enterprises require. When data centers first became necessary they required people working on them 24/7 because they were so complex, and these systems needed special environments and webs of cable that connected various components. Companies needed to create methods to organize cables like putting up mounting equipment, cable trays and building elevated floors.

Old computer systems also required a lot of power to run, and this power would raise the temperature which had to be watched so that it did not go up past a critical point and cause overheating. In addition to all that technical stuff, data needed to be protected and in extreme cases where stringent security measures had to be adopted a lot of processes would be entangled in guidelines and security clearance levels that could make a data center work like vaulted, safety-security boxes like the once you would get in a secure Swiss bank. As the use of computers became prevalent, it made these old data rooms impossible to manage.

Business enterprises became aware of client-server computing in the 1990s with the introduction of servers. These reduced the sizes of computer data rooms and allowed for networking equipment and cabling that led to servers being hosted in data centers inside a company and eventually in remote locations. Data centers became a word used to describe computer rooms. The boom of remote data centers has grown significantly since the dot-com era which tanked. The internet pushed businesses to have servers and data centers that would never shut down but be able to give out different kinds of information whenever data queries are made. Data center hosting is not always a viable option to have in-house, and this has created an opportunity for smaller companies to build large facilities that only handle data for various companies and these are called Internet data centers that have a wide range of solutions for operations and system deployment.

The Benefits of Data Centers in Business Continuity Even When Data Center relocation has to happen:

A data center keeps data safe from unauthorized usage and malicious attacks. With hacking being so prevalent, the value of deploying security systems to keep data safe is necessary. For small businesses, the security measures might not be as extensive, but a data center can provide techniques to test and identify network vulnerabilities. The most significant thing, however, has to do with a data center providing continuity in case of network failure and unforeseen disasters. Minimizing disruption and operational losses builds investor confidence, sets your brand to be a reliable brand that customers and stakeholders will appreciate even if data center relocation has to happen. Data centers ensure continuity which is essential to make sure a business remains competitive in an industry that can be volatile. The smooth retrieval of data through a data center ensures business continuity and reliability in the face of challenges that are known and unknown.

Data center offer leading services such as:

Dedicated hosting services

Collocation services

Cloud computing services

E-Commerce Portal Hosting

Data centers helps businesses focus more on their core activities by facilitating greater agility and flexibility of technology operations will help enterprises maintain continuity regardless of the challenges it might face regarding storage and retrieval.

Any enterprise that uses the services of a data service company can operate without having to worry about the safety of data and ensures that the company continues rendering services without having to worry about the integrity of its computer system. If your company has to move, data center relocation does not become an issue.

Data Centers - We Can’t Live Without Them, and Can't Disrupt

Data Centers - We Can’t Live Without Them

In today’s high-tech world of information and technology it would be impossible for most of us to function in our day to day lives without some form of information interaction  that is digitally transmitted and stored in any number of locations.  Data centers are an integral part of virtually every business these days as they rely heavily on massive amounts of data being stored and made available for daily business functions.   From emails to on-line banking or accessing a form from the workplace network to operating a telecommunications center, virtually everything we do or use today somehow interacts with digital data being transmitted, stored and made secure in a data center.

However, data centers are much more than just a place to store data; this is just one of the many components that make up a data center.  Data centers are run by computer systems that make the data they store useful to whom or whatever has access to the data.  These systems can be quite immense depending on the size of the business or corporation.  The various ways in which the data is being accessed and used dictates what type of infrastructure is put in place to move, save and protected the stored data.  There are the data storage systems themselves that typically are paired to ensure storage redundancy and then you must have the hardware and software in place that makes data connectivity possible.  Telecommunications of course is necessary for the transmittal of data and each data center typically has a primary and back-up power distribution system for ensured reliability.  These are the main components that make up a typical data center.

Data centers play such an important role in our everyday lives that extreme measures are taken to protect the stored data.  Aside from routine back-ups and virus protection software, data centers are also commonly protected by both electronic data security and physical security systems as well.  Fire suppression and environmental control systems are also a vital part of most large data centers.

For a typical example of how a data center interacts with our everyday lives, let us take a quick trip to the electronics super store.  Suppose you are unable to find an advertised sale item you wish to purchase.  You flag down one of the store’s sales associate who punches in the information on your item into one of their sales terminals.  The information is then transmitted to the stores corporate data center where an inventory check locates your item at a store 55 miles away.  With a swipe of your credit card, the electronic wheels are set in motion.  Through applications, that are part of the data center, your credit card information and sales amount is transmitted to your bank for approval and then back with confirmation of payment.  Another application, that is also part of the data center, then electronically removes your item from the store’s inventory, tags it for re-order and transfers the item to the inventory of the store that you made the purchase from.  Last, through yet another application that is part of the data center, the item is electronically marked to be shipped on the next truck heading to the store of purchase.  All of this takes place within seconds from the sales associate hitting the ‘enter’ key.  A few days later, you receive an email and a text message, through yet another application that is part of the data center, alerting you that your item has arrived and is ready for pick up. 

And to think when a company performs a data center relocation, when done correctly no one has any idea it have been relocated to a new environment.  Companies have millions of dollars on the line, and loyal clients... this well balanced system cannot be disrupted when performing a data center relocation.

Data Centers - We Can’t Live Without Them

In today’s high-tech world of information and technology it would be impossible for most of us to function in our day to day lives without some form of information interaction  that is digitally transmitted and stored in any number of locations.  Data centers are an integral part of virtually every business these days as they rely heavily on massive amounts of data being stored and made available for daily business functions.   From emails to on-line banking or accessing a form from the workplace network to operating a telecommunications center, virtually everything we do or use today somehow interacts with digital data being transmitted, stored and made secure in a data center.

However, data centers are much more than just a place to store data; this is just one of the many components that make up a data center.  Data centers are run by computer systems that make the data they store useful to whom or whatever has access to the data.  These systems can be quite immense depending on the size of the business or corporation.  The various ways in which the data is being accessed and used dictates what type of infrastructure is put in place to move, save and protected the stored data.  There are the data storage systems themselves that typically are paired to ensure storage redundancy and then you must have the hardware and software in place that makes data connectivity possible.  Telecommunications of course is necessary for the transmittal of data and each data center typically has a primary and back-up power distribution system for ensured reliability.  These are the main components that make up a typical data center.

Data centers play such an important role in our everyday lives that extreme measures are taken to protect the stored data.  Aside from routine back-ups and virus protection software, data centers are also commonly protected by both electronic data security and physical security systems as well.  Fire suppression and environmental control systems are also a vital part of most large data centers.

For a typical example of how a data center interacts with our everyday lives, let us take a quick trip to the electronics super store.  Suppose you are unable to find an advertised sale item you wish to purchase.  You flag down one of the store’s sales associate who punches in the information on your item into one of their sales terminals.  The information is then transmitted to the stores corporate data center where an inventory check locates your item at a store 55 miles away.  With a swipe of your credit card, the electronic wheels are set in motion.  Through applications, that are part of the data center, your credit card information and sales amount is transmitted to your bank for approval and then back with confirmation of payment.  Another application, that is also part of the data center, then electronically removes your item from the store’s inventory, tags it for re-order and transfers the item to the inventory of the store that you made the purchase from.  Last, through yet another application that is part of the data center, the item is electronically marked to be shipped on the next truck heading to the store of purchase.  All of this takes place within seconds from the sales associate hitting the ‘enter’ key.  A few days later, you receive an email and a text message, through yet another application that is part of the data center, alerting you that your item has arrived and is ready for pick up.  

Why it is Important to keep your Data Center or Server Room Clean, and Equipment Organized

Data center or server rooms are an important component of companies, organizations and agencies. It serves as storage for important data such as information on employees, clients, projects and many other details. Transactions, finances and the like are also stored in the data center. Thus, it is very important to organize data center files to prevent losing them.

What causes data center failure?

Data center failure is a very disastrous occurrence in a company, organization or agency. Important data stored in the data center may be lost in a blink of an eye if there is failure to organize data center operations.

This is caused by many factors such as wearing out of equipment which prevents it from operating anymore. The goal is to prolong the equipment lifespan by proper maintenance.  One of the causes of wear out is due to failure to clean data center equipment and to clean server room area.

Accumulation of dust, dirt and particles in equipment might cause equipment malfunction which may result to data loss. To prevent this, it is important to clean server room equipment and clean data center surroundings.

Metal whiskers or zinc whiskers accumulate in the data center hardware if there is failure to clean data center computers. These cause short circuits on the electronic equipment such as the computers. The answer is to keep a clean server room. 

What should be done to prevent date center failure?

Proper and regular maintenance of equipment and keep a clean server room as a whole is needed. Training personnel well to operate and organize data center equipment is very important. It would be good to keep the same staff for a long period of time to organize data center files and operations and to clean data center. It is better to keep only a few staff to prevent overcrowding and disorganization in the area.

One thing is to maintain clean data center equipment. A good way to maintain the clean server room environment to is to organize data center regular cleaning. So as not to lose track is to set a quarterly schedule to clean data center equipment and clean server room surroundings.  It would be better to have a data center manager to organize data center equipment.

Having a data center manager who is a specialist who is trained to maintain and clean data center is very important. Moreover, the specialist will specifically be tasked to do the duty to clean data center equipment and clean server room surroundings following a strict routine schedule.

Having one person or a specific team to focus only to organize data center operations is much more convenient and practical. Moreover, since the data center manager is skilled to organize data center equipment, he or she also has in depth knowledge with inventory control, equipment mapping and proper connections of cables.

Aside from a clean server room, it is also important that it is secure. With many viruses and worms being a threat, a backup system is important so another role of the data center manager is not just to organize data center stuff but also to secure it by making sure he or she does virus scanning and file backups regularly.

Having a clean server room, clean data center equipment and organized data center is important to maintain server room equipment to prevent damages that may cause loss of important data. If a data center manager is not available, there are many tips online to keep a clean server room and clean data center equipment and to give information on how to organize data center.

Article Summary

The article discusses about data center failure and how to manage it by keeping clean data center equipment and a clean server room as a whole. Having personnel to organize data center operations, maintain data center equipment and organize cleaning was also suggested. 

Secrets to a successful data center or server room relocation

Secrets to a successful data center or server room relocation

One of the most difficult challenges a data center or server room manager has is hardware relocation.  Depending on the size of the staff, even the smallest of hardware relocations have roadblocks.

The great thing about our technology today, is often times a hardware relocation can be avoided with migration.  This is not always the case, and you may have to get in there, roll up the sleeves and perform heavy lifting.

The reality is that your physical hardware has physical and logical dependencies to account for.  There is also a risk that when you move and relocate the devices it wont come back on line.  Of course the more hardware that is involved with your data center move, the more complex it will become.

The good news is that there are steps that can be taken to streamline a data center or server room move by mitigating the most common risks, reducing down time, all while making the move successful.

Prioritize your hardware

The single most important thing to a data center move actually happens weeks before the move itself.  The most critical component is having a plan.  Assemble a list of the peripheral equipment and machines that you intend to relocate, and make notes of redundant hardware.  Remember if you can stagger when they are offline, you can avoid an interruption of service to clients. 

Consider which machines are most critical for you business, and establish which equipment will need to be offline for the least amount of time.  Ranking order in your equipment will enable you to determine which order to power down and restart hardware.  The goal is last off, first to come back on! 

Plan the Hardware Deployment

Think about how you want you servers, storage devices, and network equipment arranged at the destination.  Consider rack, and space requirements prior to the actual setup.  This also includes having the proper hardware to secure these devices within their environment.  Often times the original cage nuts or screws are not able to be reused.  Also verify that all shelving and rails are able to be reused in the new racks.

While there can be advantages in moving full racks of servers, there are also great reasons to re-rack as well.  If you have redundant servers in the same cabinet, this would be a great time to separate them.  If you are populating a brand new data center or server room think about your overall strategy of allocating hardware and floor space.  Do you want to put hardware by type or function?  Maybe you want to mix the gear so the most power hungry systems aren’t clustered together, and requiring great powering and cooling density in a given cabinet. 

Create a move time line

Estimate how long the data center move will take.  Sketch down a timeline for powering down equipment, cable management, un-racking, packaging, clean up, loading the moving trucks at the origin, and travel time; the same is applied at the destination.  You will also want to add in trouble shooting time for any given instances such as component failures.  Be generous with your time estimates.  It is much better to estimate job completion being a total of 28 hours, but then actually completing in 18 hours.

Opt to select a moving or transportation company

Look and research movers that have experience in the packing, handling, and transportation of highly sensitive equipment (and data).  Ideally look for a mover that specializes in the data center moving industry, or has a track record of working in the industry.  Be sure to document what elements in the data center relocation that the transportation company will be responsible for, or what roll they will play.  For example, will the movers package and secure the equipment held within your cabinets, or will you?  If there is damage to the equipment, will the moving company pay for the damages?  Does the server moving company have the correct insurances that will cover the entire process of your data center relocation? 

Instruct the movers

Work with the moving company representatives and create written instructions for the movers to follow when at your facility.  These instructions should also include operational standards you normally have in your data centers, and move specific instructions.  Do the movers need to check in, or wear identification badges while onsite?  Do the movers have access to the entire building, or data center?  Are certain areas going to be off limits?  Do you prefer the data center movers to use a loading dock, or street entrance?

Schedule the move

You want to establish a move time that is the least disruptive to your business.  If your company employs maintenance windows in which down time is acceptable or freeze periods when it is not, plan accordingly.  Plan the actual move avoiding heavy traffic times, sporting events, or severe weather for example. 

Establish a back out-plan

If there an infrastructure problem for example, you want to be able to gracefully halt some or all of the relocation activities.  Once you have completed all of these steps, you are almost ready for moving day. 

Label hardware and cabinets

Prior to the move label all of your hardware, cabinets, and floor tiles at the destination.  Post a diagram on each cabinet listing which tile location it will be transported to.  If you are re-racking hardware include a simple line sketch documenting the position in which it be relocated to in the new cabinet from top to bottom.  Color coding is also a great option for the prior mentioned, and makes it very obvious.  For example use blue labels specifically for one cabinet, and label all of the equipment with blue labels that will be assigned to this space.  Diagrams complimented with a color coding system makes for an easier transition.

Pre-cable patch cords

For any fully populated rack moves, you can transport them with any connected patch cords carefully coiled up inside.  For equipment that will need to be re-racked, pre-patched cabling at the destination floor tiles; because you will know how the equipment will be arranged you will be able to calculate how many cables and lengths at each tile. 

Obtain equipment spares

Set aside a set of components that might become non-operational during the relocation process.  You don’t want to extend the relocation because you do not have a spare power supply for example.  Cage screws & nuts, patch cords, connections, and even server cabinets are good to have extra’s of as well.

Protect the data center

Transporting a lot of staff, and equipment across the data center creates a lot of wear and tear on the room.  It may be a good idea to put down tacky mats at the entrances, and exits of the floors in the room.  Protection along the route of travel on floors to protect tiles could also be a good option. 

Executing the move

With all of your prep work done, it’s time to carry out the move.  Bring all hands on deck!  The goal of any relocation is to have it performed quickly and carefully so the down time is minimal, and there is no damage to any of the buildings (data centers).  Remember the more experienced people involved with any data center relocation, the shorter down time!

Supervise the move

It is still important at all times to supervise the people and equipment to verify that the process and handling is appropriate at all times.  This includes even following server cabinets to verify that they are being moved slowly, and lifted slightly at lips of doorways.  Movers should remove all protective wrapping before entering the destination data center.  This will reduce dirt and foreign contaminants from entering the room. 

After the move

Once the computer equipment has been moved to their new location, be sure to remove all old and dated labeling.  Be sure to keep the new labeling in place. 

Restart the equipment

Begin to power your equipment according to the sequence mapped out before the move.  Be sure to bring systems online gradually, especially those that are sharing electrical circuits.  It can be tempting to turn on multiple servers at once, but doing so in a staggered manner reduces the chances of overloading an electrical circuit and tripping a breaker. 

Update your hardware database

Finally, when the devices have been moved be sure to update their server location in whatever data bases you use to track their location!

Data Center Relocation Tips

Any kind of move or relocation has proven to cause significant anxiety and stress to anyone involved.  The kind of relocation that is most critical, however, is the one involving server relocation of data centers, because any misstep by you or by the computer moving service can mean data losses and critical business disruptions that can hurt a company’s reputation. Although a complex process, relocation of a data center need not be overwhelming.  Invest on months of careful planning, selection of the right IT moving company, and assigning the most reliable relocation teams to be able to attain the optimal solution to meet the demands of a complicated relocation task is the way to go about it.

Pre-Planning

Establish your operation objectives, so you will have a reference point when you present your plans to all the people who will be involved in it.  Hiring a consultant from a reputable IT moving company or a computer moving service as your guide during the planning stage can be beneficial too.

Planning Process

Communication is very important among everyone that is involved.  Everyone involved should understand what the entire plan is, from start to finish.  In this stage, the day of the move will be discussed, as well as how the hardware will be transported and which data center movers to hire for the server moving.  It is imperative to organize task and plans, and test it in order to anticipate and address every challenge that may arise.

Create A Back-Up Of Your Inventories

Label all your software, applications and hardware with a relocation data base number as you get ready for the server relocation.  Make sure that the relocation inventory is always up to date by applying a change tracking process.  It is better to be safe than sorry, so make sure to create three sources as your back-up for all of your company’s data and applications as you resort to the most feasible computer movers.

Networking Plans

Building a new data center that can parallel the performance and quality of your old one can be planned well in advance, thanks to bandwidth costs becoming more inexpensive nowadays.  Take the opportunity to do a network design and move equipment and applications without creating a disruption.  It is also wise to test your network on virtual models before the IT moving company or data center movers come to work to avert from any unfortunate surprises. 

Assign A Consultant To Oversee The Server Movers

Hiring a data center relocation expert to oversee and guide the work of the computer moving service or data center movers you hired is significant to a smooth-sailing relocation process.

By adhering and taking into action all these important tips, your company are sure to have an efficiently streamlined data center migration procedure with minimized migration-related downtime.  It is imperative to stay coordinated in order to avoid budget overruns and serious business disruptions and just focus on achieving a successful relocation process.  

                                

Similarly, you will need to consult the most professional and reliable Cloud Movers with a proven track record of best Cloud Equipment Relocation and Cloud Equipment Consolidation.

Data Center Relocation Projects Are Not Created Equal

Gartner Group studied more than 70% of the Global 1000 organizations and found they will have to either move or modify their data center facilities significantly during the next five years.  The term data center is such a broad word to use.  A company’s data center can vary in size and complexity, ranging from a small room to a 40,000 square foot dedicated building.

For many smaller companies, basements and back rooms often serve as data center space in the place of dedicated facilities.  This often times leads to inefficiencies, reliability issues and potential security risks.  Increasingly the consensus in the IT world is that it makes sense for small and midsize businesses to move to an outsourced data center model, which allows a company to achieve the performance of an enterprise-grade facility rather than continuing to operate in sub optimal conditions.

For many smaller companies, running a data center facility does not make financial sense, due to their server footprint being too small to justify a dedicated building. But their reliability needs may be the same as a large enterprise, so they choose a better environment other than their current.

All companies’ dynamics change, and with this there is becomes a realization that they may need extra help, and this requirement may be by having an outside resource fill that missing link. That’s not just in supplemental staff, but it may also be the need for space because your business is booming.  Then relocating your data center may be the best option for you.

Data centers can be wonderful, offering peace of mind when a company needs a stable environment to house their computer systems so that they may run constantly with protection, upkeep, backup power, communications connections, environmental controls and security devices.  If your company wants to put everything in one place, a data center can be a great solution. 

All too often clients don’t think of the potential problems that could arise by leaving a data center in the years to come.  A successful data center move is no accident, and headache filled relocation's can be reduced by proper insight and planning.  Data center moves can be one of the most risky if the whole project is not properly managed.  What if a rack of production servers fails to come back online after being moved due to improper handling?

This and many other items will be touched upon in our next article Data Center Relocation- Not All Relocation's Are Not Created Equal.  NCWS will offer steps you can take to streamline your data center relocation and offer insight.