Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 74 | Page 51

FEATURE : DATA CENTRES

Data centre commissioning increasingly important to defeat digital downtime

We often tend to focus on the specific technology and infrastructure that makes up a data centre , paying less attention to the design and build of the data centre itself . Martin Williamson , Head of Commissioning – Middle East , AESG , outlines what a comprehensive data centre commissioning process should look like .

The events of the last 18 months have fuelled an unprecedented acceleration of digitalisation initiatives in the Middle East . Across the spectrum of industry , organisations have undertaken technology transformations with the aim of streamlining processes , safeguarding continuity , or in many cases , doing so just to stay relevant .

At the centre of this data-driven digital world is the data centre , where advanced technologies such as IoT and data analytics , coupled with futuristic Machine Learning and AI , are driving the industry towards unparalleled levels of predicted growth – with the Middle East and Africa data centre market expected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate ( CAGR ) of 10.38 % by 2026 .
Impact of outages magnified
With everything from communications and collaboration systems to mission critical databases and application servers housed in data centres , downtime can cripple business operations . In its 2020 global survey , the Uptime Institute found that the financial repercussions of data centre outages can be significant , with four in 10 power outages costing between US $ 100,000 and US $ 1 million , with one in six exceeding US $ 1 million .
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