Data Centre: Securing the Powerhouses of the Digital World
The pandemic has catalysed India’s digital transformation. As the economy reopens in a phased manner, enterprises are adopting a more tech driven approach to commence operations. With cloud and cloud-based applications being leveraged more than ever before, there is an increasing dependence on data centers for supporting the applications and servers required to run these services, thereby unlocking new opportunities to store and utilize this data.
According to a NASSCOM report, the nation’s growing internet penetration, increased adoption of cloud, IoT, AR/VR, AI/ML, big data analytics, and edge computing coupled with the Government of India’s push towards digitisation are some of the key factors driving the growth of India’s data economy.
The ever-increasing usage of data coupled with the focus on data protection and data localisation policies is increasing the demand for data centres in the country which is expected to touch 5 billion by 2025 growing 2X the CAGR compared to the global market over 2019 – 2025.
With data being touted as the ‘new oil’ and/or the ‘new currency’, data centres have emerged as prime targets for criminals looking to disrupt business operations or stealing data for profit.
Against this backdrop, the protection of data centres has assumed greater importance, and one of the strategies to enhance its security is by deploying an efficient IP access control, IP audio, software, and video analytics solution.
Protecting the data centre
Running a data centre in today’s world is an increasingly complex task. New technology, changing regulations, and new demands calls for developing tailored solutions that ensure the safety of these repository of valuable data.
Video technology is a critical aspect in most security solutions to detect potential threats. Technological advancements have allowed for more responsive video surveillance wherein activities can be analysed in real time.
For securing the perimeter, thermal cameras with long detection ranges and high-contrast images are ideal to ensure security as they perform well even in low-visibility conditions such as light rain, fog, smoke, or total darkness. Ground-based radar can also be used to track people and objects moving across open spaces and is less sensitive to things that trigger false alarms in other motion detection cameras like small animals and moving shadows.
Video content analysis can identify objects left behind, count people, and employ other intelligent tactics to quickly identify threats. For example, who enters the facility, the duration of stay inside, and the exact area being accessed.
An open Video Management Software (VMS) solution coupled with access control can be used to monitor the relevant access points after verifying authorization. CCTV cameras integrated with analytics can be installed to scan all areas that need tight control.
An intelligent video solution can be utilized to detect the exact number of people present and can trigger an alert when the maximum number allowed is breached. VMS solutions can also provide insights into the average occupancy periods. For instance, these solutions can be customized to raise an alarm if someone overstays the specified time limit.
Managing data
The data center comprises several network devices in a complex arrangement. These include switches, routers, firewalls, servers, storage systems, application delivery controllers, and video cameras. All these components manage and store business-critical applications and data.
Any state-of-the-art data center must manage data from across multiple devices, and its storage for a stipulated time. With increased number of people socializing online, people working remotely, surge in the e-commerce and gaming industries, the amount of data that is generated daily has reached staggering amounts, bringing the data center industry at the fore of continuing India’s momentous transition into a data economy.
Companies are increasingly looking to derive actionable insights from the data repository generated from high quality video. Therefore, to accommodate this unprecedented data growth, an ideal video technology platform is required that can ensure seamless data management through a single pane of glass while simultaneously optimizing investment costs.
Enhancing Efficiency
A data centre is a goldmine of information. The networked devices and servers that process, store, and distribute critical data are the precious components of an enterprise’s digital infrastructure. Securing a data centre involves processes, policies, technologies, and procedures that ensure its physical and virtual protection. As risks evolve every day, data centres can benefit greatly from a seamlessly integrated security system that track threats even before a mishap occurs.
For example, IoT (Internet of Things) sensors can be utilized to detect intrusion or emergencies like fire flood, earthquakes or even pre-empt equipment failure.
Data centres as a safe zone
To secure a critical facility such as a data center, there is a strong need for better performing hardware with greater storage capabilities, which are integrated with the right VMS architecture to best optimize the high volume of data generated. A powerful open platform IP VMS designed for large-scale and high-security deployments could be one such solution that technology leaders can opt for. It consolidates disparate storage silos to a single petabyte-scalable storage platform to meet retention time requirements, reduce technical complexity and performance bottlenecks.
Besides capturing important attributes with rich metadata tagging; recording information such as scene content, or audio transcripts, the solution supports future growth needs with multiple deployment and configuration options, including tiering to AWS, Google Cloud Platform, and Microsoft Azure.
Emerging technologies like AI, Predictive Analytics, IoT, Intelligent Data Collection and Big Data infrastructures have successfully broadened the horizon in terms of the development, deployment, and operation of intelligent video management systems. The recent advancements of these infrastructures have also made it possible for a seamless data collection process to provide richer information for more accurate and credible analysis.
Since the pandemic hit, we have seen a massive proliferation of connectivity, user distribution, and a greater focus on the systems that keep everything running – data centers. Therefore, keeping it safe is of utmost importance and aligning with the best-of-breed video technology solution providers is something decision makers cannot neglect.
