September 24, 2020

Data Centers in the Age of COVID-19

by: Align

AS DEMAND FOR SECURE DATA BANDWIDTH GROWS, ALIGN OFFERS A DATA CENTER SOLUTION TO MEET NEW REMOTE CHALLENGES 

Data Centers don’t shut down during a pandemic. In fact, their power is needed more than ever. Every industry is feeling the effects of the lockdowns in response to COVID-19. However, while some industries are unfortunately forced to put their businesses on hold or even close altogether, the demand for data is at an all-time high. Recent examples of this increased demand are co-location provider Stack Infrastructure raising over $300 million for data center space expansion and AWS securing another 240,000+ sqft in Loudoun County, VA.

Facing a new remote landscape

Currently, many are working from home alongside their spouse AND multiple children getting a remote education, all on the same internet bandwidth. Others are facing these challenges while beginning their families and raising newborns. This added challenge, on top of the increased demand for data, presents some very real adversity to our customers and personnel.

Finding the best compromise of space usage in a small apartment or even a large house can be tricky and will likely be a compromise with other members of your household. Will it interfere with activities by other members of the household? Is it a high-traffic area? And most importantly, how is your WiFi coverage? Can you readily adjust your coverage zone? Do you need to increase your capacity with your provider to allow for multiple online users? 

And finally, what are your remote support options?

An ever-growing remote workforce requires robust support and security

Data Center_COVID_Questions

While many companies have supported remote access previously, it was usually on a limited basis. However, remote access demands have increased over 280% during the pandemic, according to B2B review company Trust Radius, with over 50% of companies planning future spending to increase capacity of remote desktop capabilities. 

Businesses and industries today need the flexibility and agility to meet new challenges

During the past several months, data centers and remote access/conferencing providers and utilities, such as Google Meet, BlueJeans, Zoom and MS Teams, have seen a tremendous increase in demand and usage. There has been a remarkable increase in public cloud usage, as well as significant increases in hybrid IT environments. It is a testament to the designs of these spaces that they have been able to keep pace with the increased demands placed on them, as well as the personnel that support them.

Along with this unprecedented increase in usage has come an increase in the need for user training, remote support, and especially secure access. While industry professionals have been utilizing many of these tools as part of their daily work, it is not surprising to see and hear that many of those now working from home are not as well equipped to simply start using these utilities. This has been especially apparent in the education field, where teachers and students have had to adopt to an entirely new remote learning environment, where the equipment and utilities are not necessarily familiar, and worse, were not designed for their particular industry, and are still being “improved” to meet their needs.

Align's Data Center Solution is designed to fit business' unique needs

Data center infrastructure supports an entire business. To keep up with the demands of remote desktop and conferencing platforms, many companies continue to increase the capacities of their data centers. New data-intensive applications, programs, and more, highlight the need for companies’ ability to scale rapidly and securely, and a robust data center can future-proof a network for years to come. 

At Align, our proven data center solution offers comprehensive design, build, and migration services for projects large and small, on or off-site. To do this, we address the concerns of facilities, technology, and operations managers, and use our established process and tools to deliver a safe and seamless project. 

What's more, Align’s Data Center Solution group continues to provide top quality services and meet deadlines while adhering to all health, state, site, and PPE guidelines. Companies can trust our team to deliver top quality data center services. 

Learn more about how Align can help design and deliver a data center solution that meets your expectations while mitigating risk. 

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