The Cloud is a Catalyst for Evolution and a Competitive Benchmark

A new white paper from Stream Data Centers explores the cloud as a primary catalyst for evolution in both the on-premises and colocation data center markets, as well as a competitive benchmark for enterprise IT leaders who find themselves needing to be “good stewards of their company’s resources.”

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The flexibility of the cloud and improved network performance mean that enterprises are no longer focused on selecting data center sites based on proximity. On-prem facilities also face challenges around density and energy efficiency as they age. This is why, according to the paper, “there is no longer a correlation between the location of large corporate headquarters and the location of those enterprises’ data centers.”

Rather than focus on getting a data center as close to home as possible, this shift in infrastructure strategy means factors like total cost of ownership (TCO), flexibility, performance, and what the author calls “righteousness,” take precedence. According to the paper, “cloud data centers are located where those metrics are optimized.”

The total cost of ownership includes land, energy, network, and labor costs. The report ranks the top markets for each of these areas. It also highlights markets that offer tax incentives to data centers in the form of tax abatements.

“Competitive cloud and colocation markets enable enterprises to choose from the best (i.e., lowest TCO, most flexible, highest performance, most efficient) provider in any given market.” Stream Data Centers, “The Cloud is a Catalyst, and a Competitive Benchmark”

The ability for enterprise IT leaders to pay for what they use, as well as increase or decrease capacity on-demand are key metrics around flexibility. Resiliency and network performance are also covered by the author. The final metric is “righteousness,” which includes meeting energy efficiency and renewable energy goals.

The bottom line, according to the report is that “the pressure is on enterprise IT infrastructure leaders to house applications where TCO and performance are optimized, while remaining flexible to quickly scale up and down, and to do it righteously.”

Download the full report to learn more about the rise of the cloud and the metrics that matter.