It is impossible to imagine modern business without information technologies. Servers and data centers have become an integral part of the infrastructure of almost any company, regardless of its size and field of activity. In this interview Pavel Karpov, Marketing and Sales Director of ATLEX, tells why server capacity is so important for successful business today, how renting servers in data centers can help increase the efficiency and security of IT infrastructure, and how it affects the marketing strategies of companies.
Anna Nikulina, Content Manager at ATLEX, talks to Pavel Karpov, Director of Marketing and Sales at ATLEX, about the role of data centers in modern business.
Anna Nikulina: Pavel, hello! Thank you for agreeing to this interview. Tell us why servers and data centers are important for business today, and is this thesis true at all?
Pavel Karpov: Greetings Anna, you are always welcome, especially since the topic is interesting. While I'm explaining it to you and our readers, I'll get to grips with it myself. (Laughs). To begin, perhaps, we should start with the fact that modern business is becoming increasingly dependent on information technology. Regardless of the field of activity, almost any company today uses servers for data storage and processing, for the support of corporate systems, for the organization of internal document flow and communications. So yes, the thesis about the importance is justified.
Can you give some specific examples where businesses are using servers?
Sure. For example, online stores use servers to host their online displays, customer databases, billing systems, and so on. Manufacturing companies keep warehouse, logistics, and financial data on servers. Medical organizations store electronic medical records of patients on servers. Banks and other financial organizations keep data on accounts, transactions, and customers. Even small companies, such as real estate agencies, use servers to manage their databases of objects, applications, and contracts.
Even in cases where companies are not very concerned about the privacy of their data and full control over it, and therefore do not contact the direct organization of their IT infrastructure, but use contractors, online services, cloud checkouts and so on, this means only an additional link in the process. That is, the end customer also uses data centers and servers, but indirectly.
So servers have become an integral part of almost any business?
Absolutely. Today, servers are necessary for the effective functioning of virtually any organization, regardless of its size and sphere of activity. They ensure the operation of corporate information systems, data storage, access to the company's web resources and much more.
This then brings us to the question of where do companies keep these servers? Own offices, data centers? In general, is there any difference in server location? After all, the Internet can be connected almost anywhere, electricity too.
It is true that some companies and entrepreneurs prefer to keep servers directly in their offices, believing that in this way they get something out of it. But upon deeper examination it turns out that this is not the most effective solution. First, the maintenance of their own server equipment requires significant financial and labor costs — to purchase the servers themselves, for their cooling, power supply, maintenance, etc. Secondly, offices rarely have proper conditions for uninterrupted operation of servers — in terms of temperature, humidity, protection from external influences, which in the end does not lead to anything good.
For most companies it is much more efficient to rent servers in specialized data centers. Firstly, it allows to significantly reduce capital expenditures — there is no need to buy expensive server equipment. Secondly, data centers provide ideal conditions for servers — stable power supply, efficient cooling, high level of physical and information security. And, of course, this is monitored around the clock by a team of highly qualified specialists. As a result, business processes run as they should.
You mentioned information security. Could you tell us more about how exactly does having a server in a data center affect information security?
You are right, this is a very important aspect to consider. Placing servers in specialized data centers provides a much higher level of information security compared to servers located in offices or on personal premises of entrepreneurs.
First, data centers offer a comprehensive physical security system — multi-level access control, video surveillance, perimeter security, etc. This reliably protects server equipment from unauthorized access, theft, and damage.
Secondly, data centers implement advanced information security systems — firewalls, intrusion detection and prevention systems, protection against DDoS attacks, etc. This significantly increases the level of cyber protection of stored and processed data.
Thirdly, data centers provide fault tolerance and redundancy of critical infrastructure — power supply, communication channels, cooling systems. This guarantees uninterrupted operation of servers and data integrity even in abnormal situations.
Finally, data center specialists perform regular data backups, control the relevance of software, and monitor the serviceability of equipment. Thus, client information is reliably protected from various risks — from technical failures to hacker attacks at the server level.
All these measures together allow data centers to provide a much higher level of information security than office server rooms. This is especially important for companies working with personal data, because in this case, among other things, the servers must meet the requirements for personal data operators imposed by the 152-FZ, the fines for violations of which have risen quite significantly.
Understandable. And how else can renting servers in a data center be good for business?
Perhaps another key advantage is the ability to scale quickly. If a company needs to increase computing power or data storage capacity, it can be done in a data center almost instantly, without any difficulties. Also data centers offer additional services to clients - such as organization of fault-tolerant data backups, setting up protection systems against DDoS-attacks, providing VPN-channels and many others. In other words, you can outsource a whole range of tasks to ensure uninterrupted and secure operation of the IT infrastructure.
You mentioned that servers are needed not only for large companies, but also for small and medium-sized businesses. Tell us more about how they can use data centers?
In fact, it is for small and medium-sized businesses that renting servers in data centers is especially profitable. Large companies can afford to maintain their own expensive fleet of servers. But for small organizations it is often an unaffordable expense. Leasing server capacity from a provider gives them the opportunity to enjoy the same advantages as large market players — reliability, scalability, security, IT infrastructure optimization. At the same time, the costs will be much lower than when creating their own server farm.
One last question. How can using servers in data centers help with marketing and business promotion?
Modern marketing is increasingly based on digital channels — websites, neural network models, mobile applications, social networks. And their efficient operation and interaction requires reliable server capacity. After all, any interruptions, hang-ups or poor performance of such resources instantly affect the company's image and customer loyalty. That is why placing business-critical digital assets in data centers becomes a key factor in successful digital marketing.
Thank you, Pavel, for an interesting and informative story. You have described in great detail why servers and data centers are so important for business today.
Thank you, Anna. Indeed, the role of server infrastructure in today's digital world can hardly be overestimated and the situation is only getting worse over the years. The successful development of companies is largely determined by the efficiency, reliability and security of their IT systems. And renting servers in professional data centers is one of the key tools to achieve this goal.
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