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All the information that can be found on the web is stored on powerful computers called web servers. These servers, in turn, are located in specialized facilities, named data centers that provide the technical infrastructure and the air conditions for keeping the servers fully functional and safe round the clock.
What is a data center?
You can find several variations of the term 'data center', the most popular of them being data center and datacenter. Another widely known name for a data center is 'server farm', referring to the facility as a place where the servers are 'grown' i.e. stored in a special protected place where they can function uninterruptedly.
Data Center Purposes
Today most of the information that organizations keep a record of is stored online in the form of archive directories or websites. That makes them highly dependent on the online availability of that information in managing their daily operations. The main purpose of data centers is to ensure the necessary backend environment for making the stored data accessible online at any time of the day and night. This includes providing a reliable infrastructure for running the routine IT operations and setting high security standards for keeping the stored information intact all the time.
Data Center Equipment
The main hardware equipment of data centers includes the server machines themselves, which are organized in racks and accessed via special elevated floors. To provide the right operational conditions for web servers, data centers make serious investments in additional computer system components.
A part of them ensure the appropriate micro-climate for the servers to function. They include environmental control mechanisms like air-conditioning for maintaining stable server-friendly humidity and temperature levels, as well as fire suppression and earthquake protection devices, aimed at protecting the facility against any natural force-majeure events.
Others like redundant or backup power supplies and redundant data communication connections (fiber optic cables), are responsible for keeping the data stored on the server machines safe. Special security devices are meant to protect the servers against hacking attacks and viruses (Anti DDoS device, etc.) and unsolicited physical access to the site (video cameras, security guides).
Data Center Requirements
Due to their specific nature data centers must respond to a set of requirements for what the components and organization of their infrastructure must be like. According to the official data center classification, there is a multi-level hierarchy of data centers where Tier 1 is the simplest facility, occupying a single room, and Tier 4 is the most advanced level, housing mission critical servers in one large area, in a strictly controlled environment.
The server infrastructure includes variously sized servers ranging from 1U servers to large storage silos. The servers are mounted in 19 inch rack cabinets, ordered in rows to allow easy access to the front and rear parts of each cabinet.
NTC Hosting Data Centers
By choosing the web hosting services of NTC Hosting, you will have the opportunity to select the data center where your websites will be located. The company works with five renowned data centers in USA (Colohouse in Chicago, US) and UK (UK Datacenter in Coventry, UK), AU (Amaze, Sydney, Australia), BG (S3 in Sofia, Bulgaria) and FI (Ficolo in Pori, Finland).