Glossary What is a Data Center in Cloud Computing?
By null / 1 Jan 2024 / Topics: Data center Data protection
A data center in cloud computing houses the physical infrastructure and hardware components necessary to support cloud computing services. These facilities provide reliable environments for storing and processing data and running applications.
An organization’s overall cloud strategy can still include a data center, whether it’s to support a private cloud or create a multi-platform environment.
Functions of a data center in cloud computing
Data centers have many important capabilities. A data center will include hardware resources to support compute, network and storage. The hardware within a data center serves as the backbone to a cloud ecosystem, including the cloud platforms provided by AWS, Microsoft and Google.
The data center is able help with a variety of workloads that make cloud computing possible, including:
- Hosting virtual machines, storage systems and networking equipment
- Running applications and services
- Storing and processing data
- Supporting services delivery to users
- Providing power and cooling systems, backup generators and multiple network connections
- Incorporating security systems such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems and access controls
Choosing between a data center and cloud
Many cloud platforms are public, which means organizations are sharing the same data center resources that are offered by the cloud provider — with the exception when a business is building its own private cloud using its own data center.
Digital transformation initiatives often prioritize adopting cloud resources to achieve improved flexibility, agility and scale around management, performance and costs. However, there are still various reasons to implement a data center instead of the cloud, which can include:
- Secure environments for storing and processing data due to regulatory requirements
- Direct control over how your ecosystem runs
- Ability to create an environment meets your exact needs, including cloud capability delivery
