Intelligence
Team
Control over critical digital infrastructure is increasingly in the hands of a small number of major providers. While a public cloud provides a flexible, stable and distributed IT environment, there are growing concerns around its use.These concerns…
Intelligence Team
Drawing on deep practical expertise and research experience over more than 30 years, and a global network of clients, partners, and associates, our team is able to examine the design, operation, and economics of mission-critical infrastructure, the disruptive promise of innovation, and the practical realities of day-to-day management.
research@uptimeinstitute.com
Latest Research
Concerns over cloud concentration risk grow
Too big to fail? Facebook’s global outage
The bigger the outage, the greater the need for explanations and, most importantly, for taking steps to avoid a repeat.By any standards, the outage that affected Facebook on Monday, October 4th, was big. For more than six hours, Facebook and its…
Vertiv’s DCIM ambitions wither on Trellis’ demise
Operators often say that data center infrastructure management (DCIM) software is a necessary evil. Modern facilities need centralized, real-time management and analytics, but DCIM is notoriously difficult to deploy. The software is also not easy to…
Akamai outage raises questions about redundancy of critical internet functions
A recent outage at Akamai took down access to cloud services from Amazon Web Services and Oracle, as well as online services for American Express, Charles Schwab, Costco, Delta Airlines, FedEx, United Parcel Services, and many, many others, mostly…
New, efficient UPS modes: Too “risky” for many
A sector-wide focus on efficiency does not necessarily extend to many organizations’ centralized 3-phase uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems. Today, these systems routinely achieve 94% to 96% efficiency in normal operational mode. Economy …
Uninterruptible power: Adoption trends to 2025
Data center uninterruptible power supply (UPS) systems are evolving. New technologies are enabling various electrical approaches. But will UPS systems of the future meet the changing requirements of operators? This report discusses UPS adoption…
The insider threat: Social engineering is raising security risks
Uptime Institute Members say one of their most vexing security concerns is the insider threat — authorized staff, vendors or visitors acting with malicious intent.In extreme examples, trusted individuals could power down servers and other equipment,…
Data center insecurity: Online exposure threatens critical systems
In early March 2021, a hacker group publicly exposed the username and password of an administrative account of a security camera vendor. The credentials enabled them to access 150,000 commercial security systems and, potentially, set up subsequent…
Data center security: Reassessing physical, human and digital risks
Data center operators routinely maintain multiple physical perimeters against intruders and regulate the activities of the people inside. However, cloud computing and increased remote monitoring and automation bring new security challenges. Human…
How data center operators can transition to renewable energy
Transitioning to renewable energy use is an important, but not easily achieved, goal. Although the past decade has seen significant improvements in IT energy efficiency, there are indications that this may not continue. Moore’s Law may be slowing,…
Data center staff shortages don’t need to be a crisis
In every region of the world, data center capacity is being dramatically expanded. Across the board, the scale of capacity growth is stretching the critical infrastructure sector’s talent supply. The availability (or lack) of specialist staff will…
Renewable energy for data centers: Renewable energy certificates, power purchase agreements and beyond
Sustainability is becoming a key issue for data center operators. Investors, customers and legislators are increasingly demanding carbon emissions reporting and 100% renewable energy use. Organizations risk charges of greenwashing if purchased…
Data center staff on-site: engineering specialists or generalists?
The pandemic has led to a renewed interest by data center managers in remote monitoring, management and automation. Uptime Institute has fielded dozens of inquiries about these approaches in recent months, but one in particular stands out: What will…
Ensuring physical security in uncertain times
Recent events have heightened concerns around physical security for many data center operators, and with good reason: the pandemic means many data centers may still be short-staffed, less time may have been available for review of and training on…
A surge of innovation
Data center operators (and enterprise IT) are generally cautious adopters of new technologies. Only a few (beyond hyperscale operators) try to gain a competitive advantage through their early use of technology. Rather, they have a strong preference…