Begin blog: isn't it too late for a data center?

content/u/blog/isnt-it-too-late-to-build-a-datacenter/contents.lr

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+title: Isn't it too late to build a data center?
+---
+pub_date: 2019-10-09
+---
+author: ungleich
+---
+twitter_handle: ungleich
+---
+_hidden: no
+---
+_discoverable: yes
+---
+abstract:
+Is it or is it not too late to build a data center?
+---
+body:
+
+The very valid question,
+[Isn't it too late....to build a
+data center?](https://twitter.com/Mac_S13/status/1181983378100424710)
+was asked on Twitter and it made our team here in Glarus smile a lot
+and we decided to write a blog article about this question.
+
+## Fiber = the advantage of a data center?
+
+According to the tweet, the main strength of a data center is fast
+network connection, or the fiber line that you have. And nowadays,
+everyone has fast fiber, so it follows that data centers are maybe not
+needed anymore.
+
+## TL;DR
+
+It is not that easy.
+
+## How to run a data center in reality
+
+Some time ago we wrote about
+[How to run a really green
+data center](https://ungleich.ch/de/cms/ungleich-blog/2019/07/12/how-run-really-green-datacenter/).
+Admittedly, the question was not about running a **green** data
+center, so let's dive a bit more into it.
+
+Running a data center like we do at [Data Center
+Light](https://datacenterlight.ch) does indeed require a fiber
+connection. To be precise, actually a couple.
+
+## How much fiber is enough fiber?
+
+Don't tell anyone, but geeks are working at ungleich. And according to
+geeks, there is never enough fiber. But for real, how much fiber is
+needed? In our case, running a data center at 3 different locations,
+requires a couple of dark fiber lines and a couple of redundant
+upstream connections. Using the rule of thumb, let's say we need at
+least 3 fiber connections:
+
+* One for location A
+* One for location B
+* One to connect locations A and B
+
+So are three fiber connections enough?
+
+## What is actually in a data center?
+
+Maybe the real question is, why would you run a data center at all?
+Alright, for the geeks of us, "just because I can" is a reason, but
+let's think about other cases as well. For instance we are running a
+data center, because we our customers asked us to run one (easy, isn't
+it?). So some years ago we started buying hardware like switches,
+servers, SSDs, cables, transceivers, disks, network cards, access
+points and even much, much more cables.
+
+And why did we do that? Because we were asked to host virtual machines
+and data for our existing customers. So if you want to run a data
+center, you also need a bit of hardware.
+
+And there comes one of the bigger problems: hardware also needs to be
+turned on. And if it is on, it actually consumes energy and you do not
+proper fuses. Not only the ones inside the data center, but also the
+ones going into the building!
+
+
+## More information
+
+You can get in touch with us via
+
+* email: info at ungleich.ch
+* chat: [chat.ungleich.ch](https://chat.ungleich.ch)