Data Center Consulting: Deployment Options

Between hosted, enterprise, colocation and cloud solutions, your business can choose from many IT deployment methods. However, weighing the advantages and drawbacks and considering factors such as stakeholder priority lead to a difficult decision-making situation.

Uptime Institute launched Financial, Opportunity, Risk, Compliance, Sustainability and Service Quality — or FORCSS^® — as a data center deployment consulting service to help data centers understand their options and make the best choice by comparing potential impacts.

Data Center Deployment Options to Consider

Choosing a data center deployment option is a challenge for many IT departments because there are several possibilities, including:

• Internal data center.
• Colocation facility.
• Hosting environment.
• Cloud.
• Enterprise.

When considering these options, many data centers do not weigh the potential risks related to finances, performance and service. This is why a FORCSS assessment, which does take these factors into account, is critical for a successful data center deployment. FORCSS compares the deployment options and their impact on each element, so your data center can make the best possible decision.

FORCSS Assessment

Uptime Institute assists data centers in choosing a solution that is practical, versatile and sensitive to business needs. FORCSS is a data center deployment consulting tool that uses criteria based on your business needs to identify and consider the benefits and drawbacks of various deployment options. 

FORCSS cuts through the confusion by focusing on the business objectives that are critical selection factors in choosing a deployment option, including: 

• Financial. The monetary risks of deployment on revenue and cost of ownership
• Opportunity. The ability of the deployment method to fulfill its demands
• Risk. The deployment option's potential negative business impact
• Compliance. The deployment method's compliance with relevant criteria
• Sustainability. The environmental impact of the deployment method
• Service quality. The ability of the deployment option to meet user performance needs

These factors are consistent and repeatable, making it easy to communicate the enlightened decision made to stakeholders. Data inputs inform the impact on these factors, some of which may have more influence than others as key determinants. Some of the factors may have more sway in the final decision as well.

Why Data Center Deployment Consultation?

The FORCSS methodology provides benefits when both choosing a deployment option and making other business-oriented decisions. FORCSS:

• Creates a useful communication method.
• Circumvents organizational blind spots.
• Is the basis for which IT departments can identify, compare and choose a deployment system.
• Generates an in-depth analysis that supports the decision made.

Once understood, FORCSS can help with other decisions and deployment considerations, ensuring confident decision-making and total stakeholder support.

Contact the Deployment Experts at Uptime Institute

Contact Uptime Institute today to schedule your data center deployment consultation or another professional service. Our consultants are experienced in IT infrastructure and critical operations management. They will draw upon our extensive data center research and proprietary methodology to make an unbiased recommendation that will achieve data center excellence.