Application Disaggregation
Optimising data centre infrastructure for smarter
business outcomes
APRIL2017
A whitepaper researched by
Contents
ExecutiveSummary...............................................................................................................................3
Section1 Challengeandopportunity................................................................................................4
Section2
Applicationmodelsusedinenterprises.............................................................................5
Modelsused......................................................................................................................................5
Section3 Solutionsforsmarterbusinessoutcomes..........................................................................7
Geographicaldisaggregation.............................................................................................................7
Power’sroleingeographicaldisaggregation.....................................................................................7
Multi-tieroperationswithinasingledatacentrecampus................................................................8
Thehybridsolution............................................................................................................................9
Makingthebusinesscase................................................................................................................10
Section4
Industrysectorswhichcouldbenefitfromdisaggregation.............................................11
Section5 Nextsteps........................................................................................................................12
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Executive Summary
BroadGroupestimatesthatatleast85%ofenterprisesaremissingoutonpotentialcost-savingsby
applyinga‘one-size-fits-all’approachtodataprocessingandinfrastructure.
Tobesuccessfulinthelong-term,CIOsneedtodevelopcostoptimisationstrategiesthatcanhelp
disaggregateapplicationsaccordingtoavailability,latencyandsecurityneedsandenablethemto
controlIToperationalcostseffectivelyforthefuture.
Thiswhitepaperreassessesexistingapproachestodatastorageandhighlightshowmodern
operatorscanre-engineerthefutureofpowerintensivedatacentres.Itdemonstrateshow
enterpriseuserscanoptimisedatacostsbythinkingdifferentlyabouttheirdataapplicationsand
signpoststhepotentialforapplicationdisaggregationacrossarangeofsectors.Italsoconsidersthe
pivotalroleoperators,suchasSentinelinNorthAmericaorVerneGlobalinEurope,canplaywithin
globaldigitaltransformation.
“Forcompaniestocompetesuccessfully,skillsandassetsneedtobereconfiguredtogobeyondthelimitsofthe
currenteconomicengineandprovidealternativewaysofservingcustomers.”
GaryHamelandC.K.Prahaladin‘CompetingfortheFuture’
Readontounderstandmoreaboutinevitablepressuresimpactingbusinessleaderstodayandhow
CIOscanimplementpractical,applicationdisaggregationsolutionstodrivemorecosteffectiveand
sustainablebusinessoutcomes.
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Section 1 Challenge and opportunity
Today’sbusinessleadersarechallengedbytheimpactofdigitalglobalisationontheiroperationsand
theneedforongoingtransformationtocompeteeffectivelyandsecuretherightbusinessoutcomes.
Inadditiontothis,thereisconstantpressuretoreducethebottomlineandstretchbudgetsto
achievemorewithless.ThereisanopportunityforCIOstoplayacentralroleinbusiness
transformationbydevisingsmartstrategiestoimprovedatahandlinganddataarchitecture,whilst
stillsecuringandprotectingcompanyinformation.
TheopportunitytodisaggregateapplicationsisonethatALLcompaniesinvolvedwithlargeamounts
ofdatacando.Itisnotjustaboutspecialisedapplications,runbynichefirmsandverticals.Thereis
goodbusinesssenseinnotpayingmorethannecessarytohandleandprotectyourdata.Every
companyhasspecificdataandapplicationsthatcouldbedisaggregatedandcolocatedincheaper,
moreefficientandflexibledatacentres.Anexampleofthisishowtheresearchcommunity
approachthedeploymentoftheirhigh-performancecomputing.Theyarehappytopowerthe
computewithasingledirectmainssupply.Thestoragewouldnormallybesupportedbyatraditional
Tier3environmentforresearcherstoaccess24/7.Asthecomputevolumeisgenerally70%ofthe
totalpowerconsumption,thisresultsinasignificantreductionintheirdatacentrecosts.
AvarietyofoptionsareavailabletoCIOsindetermininghowtohandle,locateandprotectcompany
data.Twopossiblesolutionstoachievemorecost-effectiveandsustainabledatahandling,
processingandstoringare:
• GeographicalColocation–Europeanpowerpricesarecontinuingtoriseandtheincreasing
volumeofbigdataisputtingastrainonexistingpowerresources.Thisisakeyfactorwhen
evaluatingcolocation.NaturallycoldclimatelocationsintheNordicsorCanadathatoffer
low-cost,renewableenergysolutionsarebecomingattractiveoutsourcinglocations.
• Multi-tieroperationswithinasingledatacentrecampus–Manycompaniesaretypically
dealingwithbigdatainthesamewayastheydo‘smalldata’.Contrarytopopularbeliefthat
itisbesttoprocessapplicationsinasingularenvironment;therealityisthatmany
applicationsdonotrequirethelevelofpowerand/orresiliencyofaTier3environment,and
itisinfactmoreexpensiveandinefficienttoapplyasingularapproachtodataprocessing.
Whenitcomestodata,one-sizedoesn’tfit-all.
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Section 2 Application models used in enterprises
Largeorganisationsrunhundreds,oftenthousands,ofapplications.Understandinghowspecificend
userapplicationscanbehandlediskeyforoptimisingcostswhenprocessingtheseapplications.
BroadGroup’sdiscussionswithCIOsrevealedthatsimple3-foldmodelsaretypicallyusedto
characteriseapplicationsandtodirecthowdataishandled.Companiescharacteriseapplicationsina
varietyofways,forexample:byorganisationalstructureordataattributessuchaslatency,security
andresiliencylevels.Thisthenguidesdecisionsaboutgeographicallocation-whetherdataremains
in-house,deployedtocloudorlocatedonathird-partydatacentrecampus.
Models used
Enterprise1
Enterprise2
Enterprise3
Differentiationofdataapplicationsatthreelevels
§ Person
§ Group
§ Enterprise
Whichapplicationsareoneachlevel?
Whatkindofqualityattributedoyouwantforeach?
v Availability
v Continuity
v Security
Threebucketsofdata
§ Highspend,availabilityandresiliencylevels-businesscritical
§ Averagelatencyneeds,nottime-sensitive-cost-efficiencyimprovement
§ Reducedlatencyrequirements-enterpriseback-office
Matchingcomputeneedtogeographicallocation
§ Computeintensive-specifieddatacentre
§ Middlelevelcompute-variable,byapplication
§ Datastorage-anywhere
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Somecompaniesdevelopdetailedmatricesordashboardstocorrelateapplicationswithsupporting
elementsanddatacentrerequirements.Thematrixshowsanapproachusedinfinancialservices:
Bankingdatacentreapplicationdashboard–anexample
Application1
Application2
Statutoryrequirements
BasleII,MiFID,SEC,SarbanesOxley…
Yes
No
Disasterrecoverylimitations
Yes
No
Businessrequirements
Network/Latency
High
Medium
Compute/hardware
High
Medium
Storage/archiving
Medium
Medium
Collaboration/access
Medium
Low
Criticality
High
Medium
Datacentrerequirements
Powerdensity
4-6KWperrack
2-3KWperrack
Security
High
Medium
Location
Within100km
WithinEurope
Cloudoption
No
Yes
Outsourcingoption
Yes
Yes
Source:BroadGroup/FinancialServicessector
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Section 3 Solutions for smarter business outcomes
Onewaybusinessleaderscanmakemoreoutoflessistodisaggregatetheirapplications,andthisis
applicabletoanycompanywithvolumedata.Beingsmartwithdataisnotjustplacingeverythingin
Tier3.Whypaymoretoprotectdatathatdoesnotneedprotecting?
Twodisaggregationmethodsthatcanimprovecostsandbusinessoutcomesare:
• Geographicaldisaggregation
• Multi-tieroperationswithinasingledatacentrecampus
Geographical disaggregation
Decisionsbasedongeographyarenotalwaysstraightforward.Intermsoflatency-sensitive
applications,aCIOwillassessthetypeofconnectionsgoingintoadatacentreandevaluatewhether
asolutionisregionalorcountry-based.
Ifdataprotectionanddatasovereigntyareissues,theyultimatelydefinegeographicalplacement.
Otherwise,formostcommercialandInternet-basedtraffic,thedecisiononwheretolocatedatais
aneconomicone.Evenfinancialcompanieswhohavetraditionallyrequireddatacentrescloseto
usersandexchangescanstoresignificantamountsofdatainremotelocationswithnodiscernible
degradationtotheirperformance.Researchin2016byBroadGroupfoundthatinthefinancialsector
only5-10%ofapplicationsrequireproximitytotheLondonStockExchange.
Solutionscanbedifferentpercountry,contingentonhowfibre-richthenetworksare.Thereare,of
course,othertypesofgeographicdisaggregationthatrequireproximitytoendusers.Edgedata
centres,forexample,aredesignedtosupportvideostreaming,retailandotherbandwidth-hungry
consumerapplications.
Globalnetworksandimprovementsingeographicallatencyenablecompaniestostoreandprocess
datainalternativelocations.Consequently,somedatacentreoperatorsarebeginningtooffer
regionalhubsandhostspecificsectorapplicationsatadistancefrommajorconurbations.
Enterprisescancolocatenonlatencysensitiveapplicationsandcomputetospecialiseddatacentres
onthegeographicalrim,e.g.,totheNordiccountries,CanadaandthePacificNorth-West.Non
latencysensitiveapplicationscanincludedisasterrecovery,back-up,storage,archiving,ERPsystems,
researchanddevelopment,datamining,deeplearningandmachinelearning.
Power’s role in geographical disaggregation
Poweraccountsforupto60%oftotaldatacentreoperatorcosts.Thecostofelectricityisakey
factorwhenevaluatingcolocationandotheroutsourcedoptions–increasinglysoasbigdata
volumesspiralupward.Newareasofpowerdensityhaveemergedwiththegrowthof
supercomputing;highperformancecomputing(HPC)operatesatdensitiesupto30kW.Ultra-high
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densitiesof40kW–60kWperrackarealsonowused,e.g.,ASICchipmanufacturersinblockchain
computingforBitcoin.
Thegrowthindataisputtinghugepressureonpowergrids.AccordingtoNorthbridgeEnergy
Partners,UKdatacentresareestimatedtoconsume3,000to4,000MW,equivalentto1.5%-2%of
totalUKpowerconsumption.Thisfigureisforecasttogrowatarateof3%-6%annually.
Power-intensiveapplications,suchasthoseusingHPC,bigdataanalyticsandstorageworkflowscan
off-shoretolow-cost-energycountriesandregions,likeIceland,Scandinavia,Canadaandareasof
theUS(PacificNorth-West)andremotedatacentrelocationsinclimatesthatsupportoperational
costreductionsandgreenenergy.
Thecostofpowerandadvantageofcoldclimatelocationcomeintoplayastheabilitytocoolhigh
densityhardwareisakeyissueinsupercomputing.Nordiccountrieswithadvantageous,lowcost,
greenpowerprofilesandcoolerclimatesareprovingideallocationsforHPCaswellasnonlatency
sensitiveloads.Iceland,withitsabundanceofhydro-electricandgeothermalelectricitysources,is
onesuchexampleofanattractivelocation.
GlobalplayersalreadybenefittingfromcolocatinginIcelandinclude:
• AutomotivemanufacturerBMW,whichhasbeenabletocut3,750metrictonsofC02
emissionsand82%ofitsoperatingcostsbyprocessingcomputationalfluiddynamicsand
othermodellingandcrash-testsimulationapplicationswithintheVerneGlobaldatacentre
• EarlhamInstitute,oneofEurope’sleadingbioscienceandbioinformaticsresearchcentres
usetheVerneGlobaldatacentreforlarge-scaleplantgenomicsandbiologydataanalysis.
Multi-tier operations within a single data centre campus
Thetypicallegacymodelofsingletier,singlecost,singleservicein-housedatacentreisaninefficient
wayofoperating.However,themajorityofenterprisedatacentreuserscontinuetoplaceall
applicationswithinTier3‘missioncritical’hostingenvironments,betheseviacolocationorin-house.
Notallapplicationsintheenterpriseportfoliorequirethesamepowerprofile,locationorresiliency
levels.Thepowerversusresiliencyparadigmischangingandtraditionaldatacentreinfrastructureis
becomingout-dated.Thereisnoreasonwhyapplicationssuchasarchive,storage,back-upor
researchanddevelopmentcanfunctionoptimallyatotherlevelsofacceptablelatencyandthiscan
saveconsiderableexpenditure.
Forwardthinkingcompaniesarebeginningtolookatnewwaysofhandlingdataapplicationsto
controlcostsandbemoreefficient.Theseincludebothin-houseandthirdpartysolutions:
- Privatecloudsforauto-provisioningandcostallocationtobusinessunits
- Multi-tiersinasingledatacentrefacility(in-houseandthirdparty)
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Inhouse,multi-tieringmayproveashort-termsolutionasbusinessdynamicschange.E.g.,whilstit
ownedPayPal,eBaybuiltandusedamulti-tierdatacentrewithcriticaldatalocatedinthemost
resilientareaandotherapplicationslocatedinareasoflowerresiliency.
Multi-tierdeploymentdependsonhowcompanieshavebuilttheirapplicationsandhowtechnically
resilienttheyare.Issuesofwhathappenstoserviceifacompanylosesafacilityandwhetherthatis
anacceptablebusinessriskwillplayaroleinthefinaldecision.
Giventheover-burdenedorhighlypricedstateofsomepowergridsinEurope,itmakessensefor
CIOsanddatacentreoperatorstoevaluatealloptionsandtoupdatetheirthinkingbyconsidering
multi-tieredoptions.Today,thisareaofdatacentredesignisgainingtraction.
Twodatacentreoperatorsalreadyofferingmulti-tieredoptionsareSentinelinCanadaandVerne
GlobalinIceland.VerneGlobalisleadingthefieldinEuropeaswellasenablinguserstoaccess
Iceland’sadvantageouspowerprofileandgridreliability.
The hybrid solution
WhilstNordicandCanadiandatacentresoffergeographicaldisaggregation,VerneGlobalinIceland
isuniqueinthatitoffersbothtypesduetoitsinnovativeCampusdesign.Thishybridsolution
providesenterpriseuserswiththeopportunitytocombinebothgeographicandmulti-tieredcampus
disaggregationatthesametimeinthesamelocation.
Thehybridapproachtocomputingcanbenefittheenterpriseintwoways:
1. Costsavingsviaoptimisation
Notover-payingforproximityandresiliencythatisnotneededorwarranted
2. Reducingrisk
Customersarenolongerrelyingonpowerinfrastructurethatisoutdated,unsustainable,in
transitiontorenewables(suchasinGermany)orsufferingdemand/supplyissuesand
workingtothelimitas,e.g.,intheUK
VerneGlobal’sdatacentreinIcelandisdesignedasamulti-tierenvironmentwithinthesame
campus.Thisdesignallowscustomerstorunlowresiliencyworkloadsinonedatahallandmission
criticalracksinanother,sothatcostsmatchworkloadsefficiently.
Thismakesitpossibletosplitapplicationsacrossdifferentprofiles.Forexample,userscansplittheir
applicationsacrossTier3(brandedpowerADVANCE),andTier1(brandedpowerDIRECT)which
offershighpowerdensitybutwithracksconnecteddirectlytothegrid-withnoUPSback-up.No
UPSback-updeliversareductionof80%inpowercosts.Atthesametime,usersareassuredof4x
9’savailabilityprovidedbyIceland’smodern,industrialisedpowergridandabundantenergysupply.
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Making the business case
Savingsfromdisaggregatingdataapplicationswithinthedatacentrecanbesubstantial,particularly
whenthehybridapproachisused.Intermsofpowercosts,savingsof60-80%canbeachievedover
5-10yearsiftheapplicationsaresmartlyplacedinthecorrecthostingenvironment.VerneGlobal
hascalculatedthat,basedona1MWloadacrossa10-yeardeployment,asavingof$12.4MUSDis
achievable.Thisisinadditiontothe70-80%costsavingsonpowerthatismadewheninitially
colocatingtoIceland.
ThegraphicbelowillustratesthepotentialUSD12.4MUSDsavingsthatcanbeobtainedbymoving
80%ofapplicationstothelowerresiliencyprofileoftheTier1powerDIRECT™environment.
Asopticaltechnologyadvances,connectivitytomoreremotelocationsismuchlessofachallenge.
Forinstance,VerneGlobal’sdatacentrecampusinIcelandcanreachcustomersinLondonorParisin
lessthan20millisecondsandNewYorkin41milliseconds.Thisleveloflatencyissuitableforarange
ofoperationsincludingdatabasehosting,cloudcomputing,researchprojects,generalbusiness
applicationsanddisasterrecovery.Thedownwardtrendinbandwidthcostswillcontinueto
facilitatecolocationwithdatacentreoperatorswhocanofferbothinnovativesolutionsand
significantcostsavings.
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Section 4 Industry sectors which could benefit from disaggregation
Companiesthathavevirtualisedtheirapplicationscanallpotentiallybenefitfromdisaggregating
applications–eithergeographicallyorbycolocatinginamulti-tiereddatacentreorbycombining
both.CIOsinallindustrysectorswillhaveapplicationsintheirportfoliosthatcouldbehandledat
lowerresiliency.ResearchbyVerneGlobalindicatesthat25%offinancialsectorapplicationscould
runinaTier1datacentre.Thetablebelowgivesexamplesofpotentialopportunitiesforcost
reductionandsmarterhandlingofdataapplicationsacrossmultipleindustrysectors:
Examplesofindustrysectorsthatcouldbenefitfrommulti-tiering
Sector
Academic
Automotive,Aerospace&
engineering
Chemicals&Pharmaceutical
FinancialServices
Healthcare
BusinessSupportServices
Other
©BroadGroup 2017
PotentialLowerResiliencyApplications
Research&Developmentprojects
Research&Development
Manufacturingdata
Salesrecords
MachineLearning/DeepLearning
ArtificialIntelligence
Computationalfluiddynamics
Crash-testsimulations
Dataanalytics
Research&Development
Computationalfluiddynamics
QuantitativeHedge-fundAnalysis
MachineLearning/DeepLearning
ArtificialIntelligence
Dataanalytics
TaxAccounting
Insurance
Pensions
Anydatasetsaccessedonanannualorinfrequentbasis
7-yearcompliancedata
Research&Development
Genomesequencing
Lifestylemanagementdata
Bio-technicalresearch
Computationalfluiddynamics
Dataanalytics
Email
BusinessContinuity
Backofficeadministrativedata
Datastorage
DisasterRecovery
Research&Development
FilmRendering
Post-productionwork
DataMining
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Section 5 Next steps
Powerisalreadythekeychallengeinthedatacentreworld–notjustthecostandavailability,but
reliability,environmentalimpactandsustainability.Thisissueisclearlygettingmorechallengingas
demonstratedbyimpendinglegislationinTheNetherlandsoncarbon-neutralbuildingsorthedesire
forpowercreatedbyelectriccars.
Inrecentwinters,manyEuropeanpowergridshaverunalarminglyclosetotheirfullcapacity,as
analysedinNorthbridgeEnergyPartner’s‘MindtheGap’thoughtpiece.
Datacentreusersinterviewedinthisreporthavetypicallybeenamongtheleadingplayersin
thinkingabouttheseissues.CIOshavegonebacktobasicsontheircomputeusageanddatacentre
requirements,andaskedthemselveskeyquestionsaboutwhattheyneedratherthanwhattheyare
currentlydoing.
Thistransitionhasoftenbeenchallenging.AswellasthetechnicalchallengesinchangingIT
architecturesandmigratingdata,therehavealsobeentheinternalandculturalobstacles.Users
ofteninherentlywanttothinktheirdataisresidinglocally,andrunandmanagedinternally.
Yet,theCIOsleadingthewayinapplicationdisaggregationareseeingclearandquantifiablebenefits.
Theyareseeingsignificantcostbenefitsinoptimisingtheirarchitectures,notjustinlocationsbut
also‘right-sizing’toensurethattheyareonlypayingforcapacitytheyactuallyneed.
Businessarealsobenefittingfrombetterperformanceandfuture-proofingtheirbusinessagainst
impendingdemandstorestrictpowerusageandCO2emissionasCIOsaligndatahandlingstrategies
tosupportbroaderbusinessfinancialtargets.
Applicationdisaggregationischangingfroma‘nicetohave’tosomethingthatallCIOsnowneedto
implement,andthispapershowssomeoftheclearbenefitsandpracticalconsiderationsinachieving
strategiesthatwilllowerIToperationalcostsandcreatemoresustainabledatamanagement
solutionsforlongtermbusinesssuccess.
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BroadGroup
Establishedin2002,BroadGrouphasachievedrapidrecognitionandgrowththroughdelivering
qualityresearchandinsightinanumberofnicheandemergingareasofthetelecommunicationsand
technologysector.TheDataCentrepracticehasbeenthemainfocusofthecompanysince2002.
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Monaco.Othereventslookatdifferentaspectsofthedatacentremarketfrominvestmenttopower
andcoolingtodemandindifferentregionsoftheworld.
Thereportsbusinessproducesaseriesofin-depthreportscoveringdatacentremarketsintheUK,
WesternEuropeandEasternEurope,AsiaandLatinAmerica,theriseofmanagedservicesandcloud
services,themigrationofoutsourcingtothirdparties,andneedsofparticularverticalmarketssuch
asfinancialservices.
TheColocationMarketQuarterlyreport,launchedinmid-2014isaquarterlytrackingservicewhich
offershighvalueanddataintegrityforoperatorsandinvestorsinEuropeandinternationally.
Theconsultingbusinesshasexpandedrapidlyoverthelasteightyears,providingbespokeand
customisedservicestousers,operators,investorsanddevelopmentandgovernmentagencies,
specificallyinthedatacentrearea.
BroadGroupConsultingisheadquarteredinLeatherhead,Surrey.Itisincorporatedasalimited
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Furtherdetailscanbesuppliedonrequest.
Emailcontact:[email protected]
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©BroadGroup 2017
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