Data Centers as the backbone of smart cities : a study of their cost and benefits

Abstract

As smart cities flourish amidst rapid urbanization and ICT development, the demand for building more and more data centers is rising. Major corporations, establishments and governments need this mission critical facility to enable countless electronic transactions to take place any minute of the day. Their functional importance ranges from health, transport, payment, etc., all the way down to entertainment activities. Some enterprises own them, whilst others use data center services on a co-location basis, in which case data centers are regarded as an investment asset. Data centers are very energy and sometimes water intensive in their operation, and their construction is usually fast tracked costing much to build, not to mention the high-value equipment contents housed therein. Their site locations need careful selection due to stability and security concerns. Hence, their life-cycle cost needs to be considered against their benefits. As an essential business continuity tool, the return on investment is a complex consideration, but certainly the potential loss caused by any disruption would be a huge amount, if at all monetizable. This paper examines the issues and considerations of data center procurement from the cost and benefit dimensions, with an aim to illustrate the approaches for maximizing the net benefits and remain “green”.