The ‘always-on’ enterprise now needs to mitigate the risk of power outages
As organisations move at an unprecedented speed toward the ‘always-on’ enterprise, one thing is now clear — the need for near-constant availability of IT systems, predictable performance, and power efficiency. But this winter will prove challenging for many who have not reviewed their existing power supply contracts and SLAs with providers. The rapid pace of computing innovation has been accompanied by widely distributed physical IT infrastructure comprising of uninterruptible power systems (UPSs), power distribution units (PDUs) and other crucial devices, all of which are highly dependent on power. This in turn is mission-critical and an often-overlooked layer in IT operations. The mood music is not sounding promising in the UK with rapid increases in energy prices due to gas shortages, which when combined with the anticipated cold weather may well lead to organised blackouts for industry and even households. Under the Government’s latest “reasonable worst-case scenario,” Britain could face an electricity capacity shortfall totalling about a sixth of peak demand, even after emergency coal plants have been fired up. Power incidents that result in downtime are the worst-case scenario. What’s more disastrous is if critical equipment such as UPSs housed under adverse operating conditions fail. Over time, devices not shut down gracefully could experience a shortened lifespan and may introduce risk of configuration being lost if there are not well-defined change management processes in place. Service providers, therefore, must have a robust power protection strategy in place. In addition, left unchecked, UPSs designed to protect data and IT equipment such as servers and storage gear from power problems will fail to safeguard downstream hardware devices and may lead to the shutdown of servers. This is why organisations should turn to MSPs to manage their computing environments.
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