The Basics of Natural Threats and Data Centers

John Huntington
March 10, 2014

As we’ve hinted at in previous posts here on our blog, natural threats/disasters are often viewed as the single most dangerous threat in the world of data centers. Given that the average cost—per minute—of unplanned data center downtime is $7,900, an unexpected natural disaster can cost your business an incredible amount of money and resources if your data center isn’t equipped to handle it.

There are a few natural threats that could potentially impact a data center, some more common than others:

• Water Damage (Flooding, Hurricanes): This should come as no surprise—water and hardware don’t go well together. If placed within a flood zone, your data center is susceptible to damage and downtime in the event of a flood or hurricane. And even if your data center is ‘above’ a flood zone, it could potentially be out of reach of maintenance and emergency vehicles to get things back up and running.
• Temperature and Humidity: The kind of hardware you find in a data center is also extremely sensitive to high temperature and humidity. If your data center is ill-equipped to provide proper cooling and air regulation, instances of high heat and humidity could potentially cause problems.
• Power Outage: Whether from a storm or another occurrence that knocks out power, data centers not properly equipped with backup equipment and generators are vulnerable to power outages. Data centers thrive off of connectivity and power, so power outages pose a big threat if your data center is not properly prepared.
• Fire: Finally, in very rare instances, fire can be an issue. Again, if not properly equipped, fire can spread throughout a data center and cause irreversible damage to storage space.

No matter the natural threat, any of the above instances have the potential to cause outages, which cost your business money. And that’s why it’s so important to pick a data center services provider that provides protection from natural threats.

Finding a data center outside 100- or 500-year flood plains can help ensure that your data is safer in a storm. And choosing a data center with backup equipment like generators, and with proper cooling equipment throughout the building, helps shield your data from all of the other natural threats mentioned. Most natural threats can be mitigated to an acceptable point simply by choosing a data center that’s well-equipped to handle such threats, and making sure you choose a data center that does is critical to ensuring uptime and reliability.

Here at Telx, we’re well aware of the enormous risk that natural threats pose to businesses and their data. All of our data centers are built to a high security standard, and that means solid building construction, adequate climate control, protection from intruders, and emergency preparedness to help mitigate the risks brought about by natural disasters. Our data centers mimic fortresses to ensure that your equipment remains secure and your data free from compromise, even in the face of powerful natural threats.

If you’d like to learn more about Telx’s protection from natural threats, connect with us via the contact page of our site, or by Facebook or Twitter.