Daily care and feeding of today’s data center – Part two: Architecture

In part one of this series, we began our discussion of applying a risk-based approach to managing today’s data center in the financial services industry.

As a framework for our discussion, we aligned the topics with the IT Examination Handbook published by the FFIEC in 2021 titled “Architecture, Infrastructure, and Operations.” These published guidelines were established to replace the 2004 “Operations Management” handbook. In part one, the focus of the article was on data center management, also known as “Operations.” Today, our focus is on data center design, or “Architecture.”

In the IT handbook, Architecture is defined as “the manner in which the strategic design of the hardware and software infrastructure components (e.g., devices, systems, and networks) are organized and integrated to achieve and support the entity’s business objectives. Planning and designing an effective IT architecture facilitate management’s ability to implement infrastructure that aligns with the entity’s strategic goals and business objectives.”

In part three of this series, we’ll dive deeper into the data center build, or “Infrastructure.” But for now, we will dive deeper into the discipline of design.

 

continue reading »