Too big to fail? Facebook’s global outage
The bigger the outage, the greater the need for explanations and, most importantly, for taking steps to avoid a repeat.
Author Archive for: Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime Institute
Entries by Rhonda Ascierto, Vice President, Research, Uptime Institute
Vertiv’s DCIM ambitions wither on Trellis’ demise
Operators often say that data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software is a necessary evil. Modern facilities need centralized, real-time management and analytics, but DCIM is notoriously difficult to deploy.
The insider threat: Social engineering is raising security risks
Uptime Institute Members say one of their most vexing security concerns is the insider threat — authorized staff, vendors or visitors acting with malicious intent. In extreme examples, trusted individuals could power down servers and other equipment, damage network equipment, cut fiber paths, or steal data from servers or wipe the associated storage. Unfortunately, data […]
Data center insecurity: Online exposure threatens critical systems
In early March 2021, a hacker group publicly exposed the username and password of an administrative account of a security camera vendor. The credentials enabled them to access 150,000 commercial security systems and, potentially, set up subsequent attacks on other critical equipment. A few weeks earlier, leaked credentials for the collaboration software TeamViewer gave hackers […]
Data center staff shortages don’t need to be a crisis
In every region of the world, data center capacity is being dramatically expanded. Across the board, the scale of capacity growth is stretching the critical infrastructure sector’s talent supply. The availability (or lack) of specialist staff will be an increasing concern for all types of data centers, from mega-growth hyperscales to smaller private enterprise facilities. […]
Data center staff on-site: engineering specialists or generalists?
The pandemic has led to a renewed interest by data center managers in remote monitoring, management and automation. Uptime Institute has fielded dozens of inquiries about these approaches in recent months, but one in particular stands out: What will operational automation and machine learning mean for on-site staff requirements? With greater automation, the expectation is […]
Ensuring physical security in uncertain times
Recent events have heightened concerns around physical security for many data center operators, and with good reason: the pandemic means many data centers may still be short-staffed, less time may have been available for review of and training on routine procedures, and vendor substitutes may be more common than under non-pandemic conditions. Add the usual […]
A Surge of Innovation
Data center operators (and enterprise IT) are generally cautious adopters of new technologies. Only a few (beyond hyperscale operators) try to gain a competitive advantage through their early use of technology. Rather, they have a strong preference toward technologies that are proven, reliable and well-supported. This reduces risks and costs, even if it means opportunities […]
Edge Computing – The Next Frontier
One of the most widely anticipated trends in IT and infrastructure is significant new demand for edge computing, fueled by technologies such as 5G, IoT and AI. To date, net new demand for edge computing — processing, storing and integrating data close to where it is generated — has built slowly. As a result, some […]
Five Trends for 2021: accountability, automation, edge, sustainability, innovation
What we can expect for mission-critical digital infrastructure in 2021? Each autumn Uptime Institute, like many other organizations, puts together a list of some of the big trends and themes for the year ahead. This time, we have focused on five big trends that might not have been so obvious 12 months ago. Heading into […]