Afcom wrap up

I've started this post a few times and decided that I would probably just end up boring everyone with the all of the details of the Data Center World conference. This is of course assuming that anyone reads this blog. :)

I enjoyed the conference very much and feel I came out having learned many new things. I was also able to talk with several interesting vendors of Data Center products. It was rather interesting that the vast majority of attendees were employees of corporate data centers. I think it has spawned another curiosity for me to follow links to....why corporations still manage and operate their own data centers. I've always been a firm believer in doing what your company does well and outsource the rest. Why don't these companies (some actually struggling to justify a generator) just put their infrastructure and servers in a colo facility?

While browsing through my Google alerts, I ran across this article at Pharmacy Processing. The part I liked reads " One of the areas where outsourcing can improve the cost structure is in Information Technology (IT). Does a pharmaceutical company really need to operate its own data center, maintain a sizable IT staff, and develop its own applications? In most cases, the answer is no. By outsourcing the function to a service provider, a company can take advantage of that provider’s economies of scale and ability to spread the costs of its technology infrastructure among several clients. As long as the pharmaceutical company’s most important “product” – its proprietary development data – is adequately protected, it probably doesn’t matter who owns the hardware".

This statement seems pretty elementary to me, but I am hoping a trend in companies that may finally realize it is easier and more cost-effective to outsource their computer room equipment to a colo facility.

Now of course my disclaimer is that I work for a colo facility. It still makes sense. :)

Anyway, Data Center World was a blast, I thoroughly enjoyed talking with Dr. Khankari, and next time I'll have to take the family along to see all of the sites in Orlando.