Mary E. Shacklett, President of Transworld DataMarch 28, 20256 Min ReadWavebreak Media ltd via Alamy StockOnce an on-premises room with a collection of IT equipment, the data center is being reimagined into a virtual DC that embraces the cloud as well as on-prem assets. It is also moving into areas such as building design/construction, energy consumption/sustainability and facility management.In this expanded environment, CIOs and IT are finding themselves in new, hybrid relationships with facility managers, cloud operators, construction engineers, IT vendors and heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) vendors.How do these data center changes impact budget thinking, presentations to the board, strategies and operations?First, Some ContextIn September 2024, IBM was still defining a data center as "a physical room, building or facility that houses IT infrastructure for building, running and delivering applications and services. It also stores and manages the data associated with those applications and services.", saying that data centers had evolved into remote facilities or networks of facilities owned by cloud service providers (CSPs) that hosted virtualized IT infrastructure for the shared use of multiple companies and customers.This is the definition that most of us who work in IT are used to. CIOs also understand what the data centers expansion into the cloud portends, although our CEOs and C-level peers might not understand.Related:The physical data centers that companies operate have provided the low-lying fruit for meeting corporate sustainability goals that boards and regulators have encouraged. These easy gains in sustainability were facilitated by eliminating physical storage and servers and replacing them with cloud services or virtualized operating systems and applications. The net and tangible results of these moves were reductions in on-prem data center energy consumption and physical floor space.Corporate management and boards were delighted with these sustainability gains. Nonetheless, they still dont understand the long-term implications of cloudifying IT and virtualizing assets, how these trends have changed fundamental thinking about data centers.Should this matter to CIOs?Yes, because when CIOs present data center status and requests to the board, the CEO, other C-level executives and stakeholders, they must talk about everything that represents the companys total IT investment in the data center, no matter where those technology assets are.What the Data Center Is TodayMost modern CIOs think about the data center as a concept more than as a physical thing. IT understands it must manage all the technology that the company invests in, whether the tech is in a physical on premises room, in a cloud, or even in tangential data center facility infrastructure like an HVAC system and new data center construction.Related:Including all these areas under the heading of data center has major ramifications for the budget, for data center strategy, and for day-to -day operations.Adopting a Global Data Center ApproachAs they think beyond the traditional boundaries and definitions of data centers, CIOs are adopting an all-encompassing approach to data center management that is global to the company. Key points that should drive this approach include:Educate management. Most corporate boards and managers still think of the data center as a physical facility. They dont see how moving more IT to the cloud or to enterprise edges changes this. It's because they don't have the day-to-day responsibility to manage all this technology sprawl. Managing the sprawl falls on IT, so its incumbent on the CIO to educate the board and senior management on how the concept of managing a data center has changed. One great way to approach the conversation is from the standpoint of security. The company must be able to secure all of its assets, no matter where they are. Management and the board will certainly agree.Related:Work with users to secure IT assets. The cloud, together with citizen development -- where users independently subscribe to their own cloud services without IT necessarily knowing -- have generated a need to uncover and secure all these assets, which should be under enterprise IT management. As part of data center expansion within the enterprise, IT should reach out to user departments and use zero-trust networks, which can identify the additions of new assets that IT might not know about, so these assets can be securely and properly managed.Update job descriptions. Historically, a network specialist or a security expert was focused on internal IT networks and security and then developed skills and used tools for these areas. Now, with more IT moving to the cloud, IT asset management and toolset knowledge should be expanded so that IT security and network staffs can effectively manage cloud-based IT. Position descriptions most likely need to be updated so they encompass these areas, and IT staff members may need to be upskilled in cloud management tools and techniques.Collaborate with facility and HVAC vendors. CIOs and their systems and storage managers must gain knowledge and actively collaborate with building contractors, HVAC suppliers, electricians and the entire corporate facilities group, because planning for new or expanded data centers or data center improvements require it.If a new data center, data center expansion or improvement is planned, simple elements like whether to have a light-colored roof, which can reflect sunlight away from the data center and reduce heating levels inside, are important. So are decisions on sub-floor cooling systems and power feeds for data center servers and storage. HVAC units can become major topics. For instance, understanding the location of the data centers hot spots. Those are areas most likely to generate excess heat, such as heavy-process servers and storage). And, whether your staff is planning to rack more storage to concentrate hotspots in fewer areas. Or can your HVAC system be adjusted for this? The goal is to have max-capacity HVAC working in data center hot spots, and lower HVAC activity in areas of the data center where little heat is being generated. IT doesnt have the bandwidth or skillsets to address all these environmental issues on its own, so it must develop working knowledge and collaborate with vendors and facilities experts.Develop working relationships with vendors. IT has a tendency to vet vendors, define service-level agreements (SLAs), sign contracts and move on. Since so much IT is being placed in the hands of vendors, this dynamic must change.Vendors should be brought into IT projects and project planning. They should minimally be communicated with on a monthly basis to review the status of the systems and services they provide. The emphasis should be on a continuous working relationship, with the vendor and IT designating point persons on their respective staffs to coordinate and direct communications.SummaryData centers are evolving into ecosystems of diverse IT assets and personnel that span clouds, facilities, vendors and services.When CIOs talk about the data center, they should present it as an active and holistic ecosystem of inter-related assets and personnel so upper management and the board can better understand what the data center is becoming, and why IT makes its data center budget requests.In addition to furthering data center understanding at the top of the organization, IT skillsets and job responsibilities will require upskilling and realignment.About the AuthorMary E. ShacklettPresident of Transworld DataMary E. Shacklett is an internationally recognized technology commentator and President of Transworld Data, a marketing and technology services firm. Prior to founding her own company, she was Vice President of Product Research and Software Development for Summit Information Systems, a computer software company; and Vice President of Strategic Planning and Technology at FSI International, a multinational manufacturer in the semiconductor industry.Mary has business experience in Europe, Japan, and the Pacific Rim. She has a BS degree from the University of Wisconsin and an MA from the University of Southern California, where she taught for several years. She is listed in Who's Who Worldwide and inWho's Who in the Computer Industry.See more from Mary E. ShacklettReportsMore ReportsNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also Like