According to industry leaders, they should be. Forward-thinking CIOs are transforming their data centers into strategic assets, but factors such as reach and connectivity are proving essential to unlocking the true potential of the data center model.
Gone are the days when data centers could be approached as basic infrastructure. The racks and cages everyone needed, to get on with business as usual, are today the lifeblood of IT-savvy businesses looking to gain competitive edge – so how you “do” them really matters.
For our latest e-book, we quizzed three prominent C-level executives to gain the inside track on how they are building a secure and flexible data center. One that provides a platform from which to sustain growth, drive innovation and deliver some serious competitive advantage.
A centre of opportunity
The emergence of cloud and SaaS means data centers are no longer something every organisation needs to have tucked away in the basement; they can be consumed as a utility, opening up new options for enhanced competitiveness and sustainable growth.
In the connected era, business depends on IT, and IT depends on the data center. Success means having the right technologies and partners in place to support the ever-changing needs of your company, but the business impact of the data center can go even further.
Access to the right capabilities can become a true business driver – helping you address the challenges of a rapidly changing world by reducing time to market, improving performance, and enabling rapid scalability; as well as increasing revenues and keeping costs under control.
Learn from industry leaders
We recently interviewed three innovative CIOs to hear their perspectives on the changing role of the data center. Although they face unique and evolving business challenges across different industries, all were united by the knowledge that a reliable, flexible and secure data center is essential to long-term success – whether it’s in-house, external or hybrid.
For Dan Levin, COO at Box, choosing the right data center partner was crucial to better supporting customers – delivering the global reach, extensive interconnectivity and ready-made business ecosystem to underpin rapid growth. As he says, “if we had to build our own data centers from scratch, we would have probably 20% or 30% less capability focused on the part that we really care about-which is building a great product for our customers.”
Similarly, Norm Fjeldheim, CIO at Qualcomm, believes data centers are as business critical as electricity. As his organisation transitioned into a global force, a data center strategy that could flex with the firm’s specific needs and adapt at a moment’s notice was essential to success.
Choosing the right partner
With more than 100 state-of-the-art data centers worldwide, and vendor-neutral access to more than 1,000 networks and 450 cloud providers, no one is better placed than Equinix to help you build a network architecture that can drive outstanding business success.
But don’t just take our word for it; download our complete e-book now to see what the CIOs at three leading companies have done for their business, and learn why the right partner can turn your data center into a centre of business opportunity.
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