Stakes
Our client, an operator, wanted an audit of its two data centers and recommendations in terms of the benefits of management and evolution compared to the costs of building new data centers.
The client entrusted our experts with the mission of carrying out the audit according to the following three axes:
- Technical environment and energy efficiency: electrical architecture, air conditioning architecture, security elements
- Urbanization of the computer rooms and aerodynamics: analysis of the air flows in the rooms
- ITIL processes: change and communication; supervision and incident; crisis; BCP and DRP; preventive maintenance; capacity forecasts; and equipment addition/removal prescriptions
Methodology
Our team first collected all the necessary information for the audit through:
- A dozen interviews (technical environment experts, maintenance teams, the supervision team, the Information System Director and his team, the Telecom Technical Director and his team, the Security Director, the Real Estate Director and the Financial Director)
- 2 workshops explaining the best practices in terms of management, maintenance and security of a data center
- A technical audit of the two sites over several days:
- Documentation analysis (architectures, maintenance contracts, etc.)
- Electrical measurements over several days to evaluate the PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness) and the capacity usage
- SPOF (Single Point of Failure) identification, including electrical cable trays
- Ground network analysis
- Fire detection analysis
- KPI study, capacity study
- Visual analysis of the aeraulics and air conditioning systems of the computer rooms
- Site security analysis (access control, etc.)
- Data center analysis management versus ITIL processes
- Study of service continuity scenarios (Business Continuity Plan)
Following the audit, our experts issued recommendations in SWOT format (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) on the actions to be taken in the short/medium/long term according to several technical and financial scenarios.
Finally, our team led several sessions with the client on the state of the art of data centers in comparison with the audit of the sites to argue and facilitate the decision to choose a scenario.
Result
Our client now knows the strengths and weaknesses of its data centers.
Our recommendations explain the priority actions to be taken in the short, medium and long terms.
Our client now has several costed scenarios in line with its real estate policy and strategy.
