RECAP | ROUNDTABLE | COVID-19 and Data Center Readiness

Introduction:
With COVID-19 vaccines now being distributed, signaling the potential end of the pandemic may be on the horizon, the focus now is shifting to data center operations in the New Normal. This New Normal appears to be defined by a greater emphasis on “data center readiness”. The purpose and hope of this roundtable is to discuss what defines “data center readiness” in your environment and how this compares with other companies and operators. What should constitute a best-in-class data center readiness program? Who’s responsible for data center readiness in your organization? Is increased data center resiliency and automation a part of the equation? And what about testing and validating readiness, how should that be addressed? Scott Good, Sr. Consultant for Uptime Institute, and Todd Traver, VP Digital Resiliency for Uptime Institute, attended the roundtable to assist and provide their insight.

As the attendees gave their introductions at the start of the roundtable, they provided what they have done to date and their perspective on readiness. Today, normal course of business at a data center is greater restriction of access, requiring the wearing of masks, temperature checks as you enter (some have thermal scan kiosk), social distancing required, more enhanced cleaning practices being followed, as well as a pandemic policy established. Most of this was seen by the group as being reactionary in nature.

The comment was made that as an industry, we like to think we are always ready, until something unforeseen happens and we are not. Everyone had response plans of various shapes and sizes in place prior to the pandemic, but once the pandemic actually occurred it was realized these plans were lacking and not fully comprehensive to deal with the situation. Therefore, we weren’t actually “ready” – reactive instead of proactive. If plans existed, there was minimal awareness and training conducted, if any. Now, awareness has obviously been heightened and planning for a pandemic is no longer the unknown, so all are required to have a detailed plan to address it. Lessons learned from this will obviously help us with future planning and readiness, and the objective of the data center readiness plan is to ensure the continuous operation of the site.

The discussion then focused on the data center operations staff. The operations staff is truly the most important part of any data center readiness plan. The staff needs to understand the risks associated with working in the data center during these events, making training and education a key element of readiness. The question was asked is it anticipated being vaccinated for the virus will become a condition for employment. The feeling was ultimately Yes, being vaccinated will be required in order to help protect not only the individual but the entire operations team.

The question was raised as to whether there has been any increased dialogue with IT and was there anything IT did as a result of the pandemic. As an example, did IT increase resiliency in any way or implement business continuity protocols. The consensus was that IT really didn’t do anything different because there was no need. The data center operations teams have kept the sites up and running continuously without causing major issues or threats to IT. IT needs to be a part of the readiness planning from an awareness perspective, and during the pandemic they have been kept informed of data center operations changes and adjustments, in particular onsite staffing and maintenance decisions. IT through the business continuity process should already have their plan documented and tested and ready to implement if necessary.

It was then discussed what would constitute proactive data center readiness. The following are the points that were raised.
• Proactive staffing plan to address onsite need, which could include separating the staff into A/B teams, working separately with no common workspaces. This could mean reducing the normal onsite staffing levels and essentially “staffing for resiliency” (this does not mean overall staffing headcount will be reduced).
• Onsite material planning. Making sure you have all the necessary PPE, parts, tools, supplies onsite and inventoried to handle any sort of event. This would include cleaning and housekeeping supplies to support a program of enhanced cleaning.
• Work priorities defined and established upfront for all critical and essential work tasks. This would establish and document what preventive maintenance and project work tasks are being deferred and pushed back.
• Plan for telework. This is something most have already enhanced because of the pandemic, but the plan should be documented and tested to make sure staff can access all necessary data center operations systems remotely without any issues.
• Training. There should be a greater emphasis on plan review and education, documenting readiness through drills and testing.
• IT as a stakeholder. IT has to be involved and informed throughout.

The question was asked who’s responsible for data center readiness. The consensus was that Data center Operations is responsible, but ultimately IT business continuity planning (BCP) should own it overall.

Lastly, it was brought up in closing that data center readiness is all about the staff, the associates at the site. The onsite staff are what really constitutes the plan and readiness, and it is management’s job to put the staff in the position to succeed and be safe by providing what is necessary. We need to help them help us.