HP launches new data centre sourcing approach

HP has announced HP Facility-as-a-Service (FaaS), a data center sourcing alternative that allows customers to redirect the initial expense of construction into other areas of the organization or into operating expenses for the data center, while continuing to manage their own IT.

Cloud strategies, big data and other major influences on IT are driving the need to create data centers capable of matching today’s IT requirements. Organizations are choosing between modernizing and building new data centers or utilizing cloud or colocation facilities, or combinations of each. The capital cost of building their own data center often drives the strategy toward off-premises choices. Colocation models avoid the initial capital outlay by operating under a monthly payment model, but they limit flexibility and control.

According to Forrester, the upfront costs of the architectural designs and plans and the build-out of capacity are often in the millions of dollars. They estimate the cost of building and managing a traditional data center is just over $59 million. In addition to these upfront costs, there are ongoing operational costs of power, staffing and maintenance.

HP FaaS is a cost-effective alternative to building an owner-operated data center and colocation. Using HP’s modular approach to the data center, the design fits a customer’s specific requirement for capacity, criticality and provisioning, delivering the right size at the right time. HP provisions the data center to the customer that pays a monthly fee as part of a maintenance service agreement. The customer would operate the data center, retaining all the advantages of an owner-operated model of control and security while having the ability to scale the data center as needed. The data center is maintained by HP under the agreement and IT resources can focus on innovation that drives business.

As enterprise data center operators search for ways to expand capacity, many are looking to modular/prefabricated/containerized solutions and colocation as key ways to expand. The primary driver for this is the pressure on enterprise data center operators to avoid incurring the high capital expenditures involved in new data center builds.

HP Facility-as-a-Service enables customers to save millions in upfront capital by:
Including the cost of building a data center into a typical five-year rolling service agreement.
Addressing specific requirements for capacity and provisioning through HP’s extensive modular data center offering, including HP Flexible DC, HP Performance Optimized Datacenter (POD) and custom modular choices that address critical challenges related to space, power, cost and time to market.

Establishing an ongoing relationship with HP via a renewable long-term service agreement including a monthly payment as part of a scheduled maintenance plan.
“Previously, organizations determining their data center sourcing strategy had a number of options, but each had its difficulties,” said Rick Einhorn, vice president, Technology Services Data Center Consulting, HP. “Now with HP Facility-as-a-Service, a new option is available that enables an organization’s CFO to switch costs from a capital to an operating expense, and provides the CIO with their own operated data center which has the flexibility to expand as the business grows.”

HP is uniquely positioned to deliver this service, with seasoned critical facilities consultants and engineers that have designed over 65 million square feet of data center space and more than two-thirds of all LEED Gold and Platinum certified data centers.