Recent earthquake activity stresses the need for seismic preparedness

Though many IT staff take the threat of an earthquake for granted, the dangers of seismic activity for the data center are a pressing issue in many parts of the U.S. For instance, NBC reported that a community in Texas was hit by multiple earthquakes as recently as Jan. 20. On the same day, a 4.4-magnitude earthquake was felt near King City, California, said the San Francisco Chronicle. Even small tremors can threaten the delicate arrangement of in a data center, so IT teams working in an area prone to quakes would be smart to include seismic preparedness on their 2015 to-do lists.

Data center design in Japan highlights seismic preparation
According to Data Center Knowledge, the major earthquakes that rocked Japan in 2011 has had a lasting impact on how companies build and operate data centers. Some facilities are being built in a shell configuration that reduces consumption of steel without compromising the building's ability to withstand a major quake. Another trend that has picked up steam over the past four years is the outsourcing of data centers to locations outside of Tokyo - Osaka has risen as a new home for data center growth in Japan, in part as an insurance policy response against seismic threats. Companies looking to expand their data center capacity in 2015 should consider the lessons learned by their peers across the Pacific. With smart use of hardware like remote console servers, sharing resources and connecting employees across multiple data facilities becomes far simpler.

IT teams can take multiple steps to improve earthquake defenses
There are several methods available to IT staff for the purpose of improving the data center's seismic preparedness. Several vendors market and sell cages designed to protect racks from impact during a quake. Likewise, IT teams can supplement their data centers with disaster recovery services as a means of adding an extra layer of resiliency to their network. More important than the particular approach is that data centers in areas with routine seismic activity have plan in place to deal with the real possibility of an earthquake.

Perle's wide range of 1 to 48 port Perle Console Servers provide data center managers and network administrators with secure remote management of any device with a serial console port. Plus, they are the only truly fault tolerant Console Servers on the market with the advanced security functionality needed to easily perform secure remote data center management and out-of-band management of IT assets from anywhere in the world.