subject: The History Of Data Centers & Data Center Hosting [print this page] This article will discuss the history of data centers and data center hosting. Each and every day enterprises around the world create exponentially more information that needs to be stored and maintained in data center hosting facilities. It is estimated that before the year 2011 more data will be produced in one year than all the data created in the prior history of mankind.
Critical systems for storing data have continued to get smaller with more horsepower, while at the same time requiring more and more power to operate. Mission-critical business applications also are requiring more processing power to meet the demand of their end-users. This explosion is causing enterprises to find suitable colocation and data center hosting solutions to house this critical data and applications with facilities that can meet these high-density needs.
History of Data Centers & Data Center Hosting
Data centers and data center hosting have their roots in huge computer rooms of the early computing industry. Early computer systems were extremely complex to maintain and operate and these systems required special environments in which to operate. These systems required a large number of cables to connect all of the components and early data center hosting specialists had to create methods to accommodate and organize these cables such as elevated floors, cable trays and mount equipment.
Old computers also required an enormous amount of power and had to constantly be cooled to avoid overheating. In addition, security was of great importance because computers were extremely expensive and commonly used for military purposes, so basic guidelines for controlling access to computer rooms were devised.
During the rise of the microcomputer industry, specifically during the 1980s computers started to be used everywhere and in many cases there was little to no concern about operating requirements. However, as information technology operations started to become more complex, businesses of all sizes became aware of the need to control their IT resources.
Client-server computing arrived during the 1990s and microcomputers, now called servers, started to find their home in old computer rooms. The availability of quality and inexpensive networking equipment and new standards for networking cabling made it possible for businesses to use a hierarchical design to put servers in a data center hosting room inside the company. The uses of the term "data center" was now applied to specifically designed computer rooms.
The boom of data centers and data center hosting came during the dot-com era. Countless businesses needed nonstop operation and fast Internet connectivity to deploy systems and establish a presence on the Web. Installing data center hosting equipment was not a viable option for smaller companies. In order to respond to this demand, many companies began building large facilities, called Internet data centers, which provided businesses of all sizes with a wide range of solutions for operations and system deployment.
New technologies and practices were designed and implemented to handle the operation requirements and scale of such large-scale operations. The introduction of these practices eventually resulted in private data centers and data center hosting.
Data center design and construction, as well as operation, is a very well-known discipline. Accredited professional groups, such as the Telecommunication Industry Association, have created standard documents that specify requirement for data center design. Well-known operational metrics for data center availability can be used to determine the business impact of a service disruption. However, there is still quite a bit of development being done in operational practices as well as introduction of energy-saving measures.
