By Patrick Schmidt
What two words strike fear into even the most seasoned datacenter manager?
Unplanned downtime.
A failed or severely impaired system costs more than just an inconvenient midnight call that gets you out of bed. According to Gartner, the average cost of downtime is $5,600 per minute. That’s right, the cost per minute adds up to over $330,000 per hour hitting your company’s bottom line and reputation. And that’s just the average.
Anecdotally, some may say that modern datacenter gear is more reliable than ever, so the problem is going away. Unfortunately, statistics show just the opposite. According to the 2019 Annual Data Center Survey from The Uptime Institute, unplanned outages and severe service degradation continues to be a pervasive problem that is on the rise.
The 2019 survey showed over a third, or 34%, of the respondents experienced an unexpected event that took their systems down or materially impacted their performance. The number is part of a disturbing upward trend. In 2018, 31% reported such an incident, up from 25% in 2017. In other words, in the past three years, serious datacenter failures are up 36%.
Now, more than ever, modern enterprises rely on the smooth and consistent operation of their IT infrastructure. Systems must run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including weekends and holidays. Datacenter managers and system administrators often spend sleepless nights ensuring uptime and performance within budget. In our current, always-on environment, even the smallest unplanned outage can have an enormous impact to your teammates, employees, and customers.
In the Uptime Institute study, 60% of respondents said their data center’s outage could have been prevented with better management/processes or configuration. In other words, almost two thirds saw weaknesses in how their assets were managed.
It is not enough to rely on original equipment manufacturers, or OEMs, for notice of impending coverage expiration or end-of-life events. And it is not up to an OEM to define what service levels or value-added services are necessary or appropriate for your company. Only a thorough and thoughtful review of your infrastructure, your contracts, and overall support model will reveal if you are effectively covered.
If it has been a while since you reviewed your infrastructure support model, you might be paying for equipment no longer in productive use. Or, even worse, you may be at risk from an uncovered critical system just waiting to cause a midnight crisis. The good news is, there is a solution.
For more than 40 years LRS IT Solutions has been a trusted and reliable source for a wide range of information technology hardware, software, and services. Our lifecycle management experts can help you understand the details regarding your current contracts, identify gaps, and uncover savings opportunities. We ensure you are in control with a simple online interface to track your assets and manage your contracts. We help bring fast and easy to a world of complexity.
To find out more about an LRS IT Solutions Infrastructure Lifecycle Management Review, please complete the form below. We will schedule a time to discuss how this no-charge service can help you recoup time, save money, and sleep through the night.
About the author
Patrick Schmidt is a Technology Lifecycle Management Specialist with LRS IT Solutions. For more than 20 years, he has been helping customers get a firm grasp on their asset and contract management with a combination of comprehensive service level analysis and lifecycle management best practices.