Moving your company's data center to a cloud service provider is a wise decision! However, as with every data center project, there are numerous processes and barriers to execute and overcome, as well as numerous compliance mandates to meet. Physically decommissioning obsolete servers, storage arrays, network equipment, cables, and racks is one of the most demanding and resource-intensive undertakings. The good news is that employing a licensed and compliant data center decommissioning provider to complete this challenging operation will save your firm time and essential resources.
Much of the cost of decommissioning is frequently repaid through the value return for the equipment, and corporations may even profit from the move due to their valued equipment.
Most businesses have hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in data center equipment, as well as thousands of discs with critical data. Datacenter managers must operate with limited resources, mainly restricted budgets; thus, the chore of de-installation, recycling, and data sanitization can appear overwhelming when combined with the myriad daily tasks and smaller projects they must do. However, for the same reason that your business is migrating to cloud servers (to place essential operations in the hands of professionals who do nothing but manage servers), you should consider entrusting this process to experts who decommission dozens of data centers each year.
The method is simple, which is lovely for data center management, but more importantly, it is secure. When done correctly, data center decommissioning has a tight chain of custody in which a small team of technicians arrives on-site at your data center, performs all compliant asset cataloging, de-cabling, and un-racking, loads all equipment onto a secured dedicated truck, and transports the servers and other equipment directly to their warehouse with no other stops in between. Hard drive shredding may be executed on-site or off-site, depending on company policy, and must be accompanied by formal certificates of destruction. This chain of custody ensures that sensitive data and equipment are only touched once, and it reduces the incidence of human error caused by too many people and corporations walking all over each other.
Another level of difficulty is the establishment of new regulations and compliance points by corporations and governments to help secure privacy and data while also protecting the environment. Most businesses do not have the internal mechanisms in place to comply with all of the new regulations. On the other hand, certified white-glove decommissioning firms are generally up to date with all certifications, particularly for data destruction and environmental compliance, and issue data sanitization certificates for every single drive they take.
Data Center Decommissioning Process
Understand the Project Scope
Before you undertake any of the detailed planning and execution required for a thriving data center decommissioning or data center relocation, you need first to do a baseline assessment of the project's overall scope.
When you first start your data center decommissioning plan, one or more of these questions will probably go unanswered.
Make a thorough data center checklist.
Once you've determined the broad scope of your project, it's time to get specific. The first and most crucial step in this phase is to identify and catalog all hardware and software assets that will be decommissioned. This is a comprehensive list of everything that should be included in your data center decommissioning effort.
Many businesses begin by identifying hardware and software assets across their network, employing network discovery technologies to detect outdated, ineffective, or obsolete hardware and software assets. However, this should not be the conclusion of the process. The list generated by your network discovery process should next be compared to a physical evaluation and review, indicating gear that must be decommissioned in person.
Start the Planning Phase
The first phase is to identify the team members who will be participating in the decommissioning, followed by their precise roles, responsibilities, and activities. The more precise and obvious these position classifications and tasks are, the less uncertainty or wasted time and labor hours you'll have throughout decommissioning.
Data Wiping and Sanitization
Your decommissioning effort isn't complete until all secure data on all related equipment and software has been entirely deleted, destroyed, or sterilized. This can be done on-site during the decommissioning or data center relocation project or after the old equipment has been taken elsewhere for sanitization. Your individual project will determine this and how you intend to manage the equipment once it has been decommissioned, such as whether it will be reused, recycled, or resold outside of your organization.
Choose the Right Decommissioning Partner
If you want to have a genuinely effective data center decommissioning project, one step you should take is to collaborate with a competent data center decommissioning service provider.
ITAD companies with extensive experience will have the knowledge, resources, equipment, and people needed to complete your decommissioning operation as quickly, cheaply, and securely as feasible. When it comes to the safe disposal of highly secure data and sensitive equipment, you want the dependable assistance of a partner that will respond to your project's specific requirements.
Sign in to leave a comment.