Data centers are often thought of as large, sprawling complexes that can't be missed; and that's an accurate description for many of them. But there are also the smaller, forgotten data centers that are located within an enterprises' own facility. They may not go by the name "data center". They might be the "tech closet" or "IT department", but when it comes right down to it, they're data centers.
Many small and mid-sized enterprises choose to outsource their data center operations, but just as many are choosing to keep those operations in-house and they are changing the face of the in-house data center. The advance of these "micro data centers" has seen a decline in the old way of doing things: take your best guess at capacity needs, build a room that supports that max load, and implement a siloed approach to data center management.
As many organizations have discovered, that's a time-consuming and cost-heavy approach that usually over compensates for actual demand. It's no surprise, then, that organizations have sought a new way to manage the data center that moves away from this piecemeal approach: the micro data center.
Just as hyperconvergence has become the next big thing in the management of large data centers, it's being used on a smaller scale at in-house data centers as well. Hyperconvergence is the integration of computing/processing, storage, and networking resources into a single chassis. Increasingly, those components are being deployed in a single rack referred to as a micro data center.
Micro data centers are readily available; some are even preconfigured for even easier set-up and administration. This makes managing a data center in-house much more attractive for small and mid-sized businesses that don't have the resources to manage a large data center themselves but don't really need all of the services of a contract data center. What makes these micro centers even more attractive is their modular nature; scale up or down as needs change.
Using micro data centers in this way reduces much of the upfront cost of a traditional data center build while capitalizing on existing space and power costs. There's even some tax advantages since such systems can be classified as business equipment as opposed to building improvements. Equipment depreciates faster than building investments.
Finally, micro data centers provide strong resilience benefits. If one micro set-up fails, the loss can be absorbed by others on the same network.
The micro data center is proof that not all advancements in IT require huge investments and are only available to the big guys. This type of smart use of technology is helping even the smallest of organizations reap many of the same benefits as their bigger competitors!