TECH IN '10?

Data centers provide redundancy and allow companies to grow by creating remote access nationwide, says AIO CEO Mike Ehrich, here outlining a project with CTO Richard Lyszczek and VP Trey Scalf. Mike says he sees all kinds of companies contemplating their use for security and redundancy (it just seems fitting to repeat the word). Mike says builders and their sub-contractors also need remote access at job sites to connect easier with the home office. A bonus is that the total cost of IT ownership usually goes down, too.

And it's direct effect on real estate? Mike says co-location saves money, but also adds flexibility. Last year, he had one construction client whose job site trailer caught fire and destroyed the server. Instead of shutting down for days and losing valuable data, the company was back at work the next day because all the files were centrally located in a data center. Rich, here with Matt Clarkson, says AIO is more evolutionary than revolutionary. The economy forced more entities to dissect their IT fluff and those budgets are pared down, Rich adds.

Mike’s either telling us to shift our defense right, or illustrating how data centers work with virtual servers. He says they’re self-healing. If a site is running five different virtual servers and one of the physical servers fails, the other physical servers take over. Plus, virtualization saves power, he says. Physical servers shut off when not in use, yet its services are still available. Mike says it’s like driving a newer 8-cylinder car and getting it up to 70 mph on the highway. Once at cruising speed, the engine cuts the power down to 4-cylinders, but the car is still motoring at 70 mph.