From the New Normal to the Next Normal in the Data Center

The global coronavirus pandemic revealed gaps in data centers’ business continuity planning. Faced with a rapidly changing, enduring, worldwide crisis—which confounded preparations designed primarily for isolated, short-term emergencies—IT leaders have come to realize the “new normal” will remain a moving target for months to come.

Data center managers are striving to prepare for additional coronavirus outbreaks, which health professionals deem likely. The most forward-thinking leaders, however, are intent on leveraging the heightened attention to infrastructure future-proofing to also enhance readiness for a full array of crises not adequately reflected in existing contingency plans.

That such blueprints must take into account today’s increasingly hybrid, distributed infrastructure poses particular challenges for data center monitoring and maintenance. Indeed, COVID-19 has exposed vulnerabilities endemic to the current approach to these fields.

Fortunately, there exist both processes and technologies to help resolve pressing support-related issues in complex digital environments. By implementing appropriate risk mitigation and maintenance prioritization, adopting strategies to maximize staff availability, and investing in network resources and remote monitoring tools, data center leaders can withstand the next interruption, whatever its cause, reach, or duration, and thrive in our increasingly uncertain era.

This paper outlines strategies for mitigating these data center maintenance issues, many of which are likely to continue for the foreseeable future, and ensuring uptime in the most difficult scenarios.