How do you know you have an aged datacenter

Data is the key to a thriving digital economy. Whether in business or everyday life, we rely heavily on it. That’s why data management is essential to stay ahead of the competition. But with an outdated data centre, you’ll never be able to keep up with the growing volume. And yet, millions of businesses still operate with ageing IT infrastructure. Does that include yours? How can you tell if your data centre is outdated? Here are five clear signs to look out for.

Sign 1: An outdated data centre has slow IT systems

Sound familiar? Slow IT systems are a common source of frustration—especially when your data centre is outdated. The culprit is often poor performance in your storage environment. Everything depends on speed. And that speed is determined by the connections your data encounters. With outdated storage systems, performance tends to be sluggish. Still using spinning disks? Then it’s time for an upgrade. If your competitors are already using efficient, modern data centres, you could be losing significant market value. No one wants that. A simple, fast storage solution can make a big difference.

But beware, many traditional storage solutions only mask existing problems. Choose a future-proof solution that can handle ongoing data growth.

Sign 2: An outdated data centre suffers frequent outages

We expect more than ever from our storage environments—flexibility, zero downtime, and support for the latest applications. That’s a tall order for an outdated data centre. With legacy storage systems, the risk of outages is much higher. That’s why regular upgrades are essential for flexibility and capacity. Make sure your storage system is reliable. In a 24/7 economy, downtime can cost you serious business.

Sign 3: Data loss due to an outdated data centre

Nearly a quarter of businesses regularly experience data loss or unexpected system outages. That’s a strong indicator that your data centre may be outdated. Data loss can result from software issues or physical damage to storage devices—leading to instability, downtime and reduced productivity. Shockingly, 66% of businesses aren’t confident they can fully restore systems and data after a loss or outage. If your data centre is outdated, you’re likely part of that 66%.

Sign 4: High management burden on your IT environment

Managing your storage environment shouldn’t be rocket science—but with an outdated data centre, it can feel that way. Many issues like outages, data loss and high costs can be avoided. Today, there are plenty of modern software tools and solutions that reduce the management burden on your IT team. This frees up time for more strategic tasks. Your storage environment becomes more scalable, and routine maintenance takes less time.

Sign 5: High IT costs

An outdated data centre is a major cost driver. In fact, up to half of an IT budget can be spent maintaining legacy infrastructure. Data loss is another often underestimated expense. If your hard drives fail, you’re not only dealing with downtime—you’re also losing valuable data.

Staff costs, licence fees, energy bills—it can all add up to tens of thousands of euros per day. An outdated data centre can consume up to 100 times more energy than an office building of the same size.