High Level Plan to Implement

High Level Plan to Implement Data Center as a Service

Developing and launching a Data Center as a Service (DaaS) requires a well-defined plan to mitigate risks, manage the integration of clients' content and data management platforms and applications, in addition to a well-define set of performance metrics to evaluate its performance over time. The intent of this analysis is to provide a plan for implementing a DaaS platform and offering it as a service.

Data Center Implementation Plan

The development of the data center implementation plan needs to begin with reliability, up-time and service availability objectives that tie back directly to Service Level Agreements (SLAs) (Goo, 2010). To the extent a DaaS provider can integrate their SLA requirements into their Data Center key performance indicators (KPIs) and measures of performance is the extent to which the provider will be able to meet and exceed customer expectations (Kant, 2009). The Data Center Implementation Plan needs to define specific configuration objectives that also set the foundation for security levels across all platforms, servers, applications and client-based virtualization areas (Kroeker, 2009). As a result of all these factors that need to be taken into account, the Data Center Implementation Plan needs to define each of these criteria in an evaluation matrix, weighing each one by the value to the customer. Once this matrix is complete each specific data center location or alternative can be weighted and compared to see which the best possible center location is given the unique attributes as defined by this analysis. What is critically important about using a weighted matrix to evaluate each of the possible data center locations is the customer-centric focus it puts on the entire structure and operation of the data center from the beginning.

Using a methodology of ranking the most critical criterion for data center definition and development, and anchoring them in customer-driven metrics ensures that the data center implementation will stay relevant for a longer period of time than if it just based on price for example. The following factors must populate the matrix at a minimum for there to be sufficient functional overlap to the customers' unique requirements and needs. Earth, fire and severe weather-based facilities, fault-redundant power source and fully redundant system architectures, T1 and T3-based speed access to the data center are all minimums that need to be included in the ranking matrix. Additionally the data center will need to provide full hosting, co-location of applications, co-location of blade servers, and facilities for full server integration and consolidation. These latter functional areas are critically important for the client's systems to be easily integrated into the virtualization-based platform that a data center requires to attain its optimal level of performance (Kroeker, 2009).

Security Implementation Plan

The most critical section of any data center's implementation plan is the development of the several layers of security necessary for ensuring both the operating systems, applications, servers and clients' data stays secure. Oftne however this is an area that does not get adequate focus, specifically in the area of role-based logins and security (Desai, McGee, 2010). An effective DaaS Provider Implementation Plan concentrates on the following critical areas. First, there are biometrically defined and configured locks and security systems in state-of-the-art data centers (Jarrett, 2010). This is a best practice in physical security of the data center itself. Additional physical security requirements include locked individual co-location hosting cabinets, administrator access to system logins, 24/7 security onsite, and smart card access to the system room itself. All of these factors are critically important for data and information to be protected as a strategic asset (Ferrara, Foltz, Turisco, 2009).

From a software standpoint the needs are even more critical. The use of firewalls, proxy servers, intrusion detection and traffic monitoring are all baseline requirements for creating a DaaS provider service (Desai, McGee, 2010). In addition, coding standards for applications and systems is also critical, especially when AJAX-based programming is used over XML-based inbound links, as this combination of applications and integration have been shown to be vulnerable to hacking and impersonation over time (Desai, McGee, 2010). Finally a core requirement of any DaaS provider's security plan must include role-based authentication, periodic password resets, definition of server access by login, and restrictions on each information asset based on each clients' individual needs. Finally the security plan must include periodic yet random simulated attacks and audits of security levels to ensure that both the DaaS software platforms and clients' data remains secure over time. All of these areas of the security plan must also be actively monitored within an online scorecard that clients can see on a 24/7 basis over their systems from anywhere in the world there is an Internet connection. A key aspect of any successful data center security plan is accountability for performance and transparency as well.

Systems Implementation Plan

Defining how the specific servers and their respective operating systems, applications, and data virtualization algorithms are optimized is defined in the systems implementation plan. The intent of this plan is to also define the points of integration between the systems themselves in addition to defining software integration points critical for the entire DaaS platform to run effectively. Further, this aspect of the plan must take into account continual monitoring and evaluation of performance over time. Access speeds and latency across these systems is crucial for clients to have access to their data when needed.

Key criteria of the systems implementation plan concentrate on the systems architecture, the decisions of which virtualization techniques, strategies and algorithms to be used for ensuring the highest performance, hardware integration to the TCP/IP command level, and the development of cache-based data management systems to ensure high access speeds to data. In addition the systems implementation plan must take into account performance in real-time and have an analytics layer that provides clients with visibility into performance on a 24/7 basis. All of these factors taken together lead to the development of best practices in DaaS hosting and also ensure a higher level of customer satisfaction overall (Kant, 2009). The systems implementation plan also needs to interlock to the data center and security plan to ensure the goals of each can be achieved consistently over time. The ability of a DaaS provider to attain a high degree of virtualization performance is directly dependent on the level of integration in the data center, security and system functions (Kroeker, 2009).