Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/394834
know yourself e key to successfully making any business decision is to know your compa- ny and what it needs. IT is no different— and, in fact, it can be particularly critical because of the huge amounts of capital that may be involved in building a data center. According to Dave LeClair, Senior Director of Strategy at Stratus Technolo- gies, a company looking to assess its data center needs should take "a holistic view of the applications necessary to meet its business requirements. It should evaluate those applications on a case-by-case basis against a number of requirements includ -ing security, compliance, cost, mobility, flexibility to scale up or down on capacity needs, licensing type (perpetual vs. per use vs. pay as you go), in-house skills required, and so on." Naturally, a company's requirements will vary depending on its size, industry, customer demands, business model and so on. Furthermore, budget constraints will impose strict limitations on available options—for instance, a small company with little capital and modest income will likely view the cloud as a more manage- able option than a full-fledged on-prem- ises data center. THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL | 21 www.datacenterjournal.com I T is an increasingly vital part of al- most every industry, whether it's for just providing contact and other es- sential information through a simple website or delivering advanced appli- cation services to customers. With so many options for meeting a company's infrastructure needs, the various data center choices can be daunting. Here's a look at how to begin evaluating the options and narrowing down the field for your future data center.