Industry news

CIOs 'need to focus on data centre management'

A new report has stressed that chief information officers (CIOs) need to make sure data centres are energy efficient and secure.

Frost & Sullivan produced research which looked at the importance of data centres in European businesses.

It noted that data loads are forever increasing and that new rules and regulations have made it more important for businesses to correctly manage the system.

The report noted that most large businesses were already capable of handling data centre management challenges such as business continuity, scalability and financial optimisation.

However, it added that 'soft' challenges, including energy efficiency, security and public relations, were proving harder to deal with.

In particular, the analysts said that CIOs must decide whether to build a new data centre, refurbish the existing one or outsource the function.

"Outsourcing will often solve problems with power supply, cooling and security," the report noted.

Alexander Michael, a principal consultant at Frost & Sullivan, pointed out: "An organisation failing to meet all these challenges excludes itself from adopting many innovative business models that might have generated substantial benefits."