Trends, Pressures and Factors that affect Data Center Management taking Environmental Sustainability into Account

Transkript

1 Trends, Pressures and Factors that affect Data Center Management taking Environmental Master thesis, 15 ECTS, INFM03 in informatics Presented: 30 th of May 2012 Authors: Papadopoulos Charalampos Wurm Andreas Supervisor: Fernebro Lars Examiners: Olerup Agneta Pierce Paul

2 Title: Trends, Pressures and Factors that affect Data Center Management taking Environmental Sustainability into account Authors: Papadopoulos Charalampos Wurm Andreas Publisher: Department of Informatics Supervisor: Fernebro Lars Examiners: Olerup Agneta Pierce Paul Presented: 30 th of May 2012 Thesis Type: Master Thesis Language: English Keywords: data centers, data center management, environmental sustainability, strategic operations decisions,

3 Acknowledgements We would like to express our thankfulness to all organizations and people that took part in the process of carrying out this research. We want to thank our supervisor Lars Fernebro for his guidance, constructive criticism and for always having an open door throughout the supervision. We want to thank the participating interviewees for sharing their knowledge. I want to thank my parents Michael Wurm and Lydia Wurm for their continuous advice, support and guidance throughout my life. I would not be at this stage if it was not for them nor would I be the person I am. Andreas Wurm I would like to thank my family and my close friends for supporting every dream I had all these years and for giving me a path to step on through their constant support. Their contribution to the fulfillment of my goals is invaluable. If it had not been for them, I would not be able to follow my greatest dreams, and making them come true in the end. Charalampos Papadopoulos

4 Executive Summary Information and Communications Technology is an increasing factor in the everyday life, whether this is private or public. In coherence with this, reports and research presents the contribution to effects in terms of pollution, such as greenhouse gas emissions and electronic waste. Current reports state that the agendas of enterprises, governments and societies increasingly include how to tackle environmental problems and how to adopt new environmental practices. The research in the area of data centers, who consume about 2% of energy that is produced worldwide mainly focuses on technological solutions. The research of to what extent sustainability actually plays a role in data centers in terms of affecting operations management decisions has not been studied extensively. In this report we aimed to identify trends, pressures and incorporated factors that affect these decisions. Furthermore, we wanted to explore the prominence of sustainability regarding the data center operation. Thus, we strived to provide a model as a starting point for further investigation in research and as an initial guide for practitioners. We have created our decision making research model, after carrying out a literature review and used it as a guide to further lead us through our process of gathering empirical data. The main trends that were identified in the empirical data were Virtualization and Cloud Computing. Furthermore, the main pressures in regard to strategic operations decisions were Service Availability, Costs and Customers (Internal/External). This was then also found in the identified factors that inherited these trends and pressures. These include Availability, Cooling, Costs, Reliability, Technology, Organizational Management, Security, Customers (Internal/External), Speed, Virtualization, Facilities, Energy Consumption, Data Center Management, Location, Human Resources, Quality Management, Storage, Consolidation and Service Level Agreements. It was found that environmental sustainability is to a large amount seen as a biproduct of the aim for general efficiency in data centers among the interviewees. More prominence was assigned to the task in large organizations that were pressured by investors or directly exposed to markets and the pressures from their customers. Only these were found to have a Green Strategy that actively influences their decisions including e.g. Green IT, e-waste and so on. Also, the organizations that had costs as their main pressure were not fond of Green solutions, as their main goals are, although different according to their background of the organization, in the area of availability, reliability and security. The difference between what is possible in the area, as pointed out in the first part of the thesis, and in the data center role models that assign large amounts of resources to address these issues, and organizations that participated in the research was founds to be large. In terms of factors related to environmental sustainability Costs, Energy Consumption, Cooling and Recycle was identified being paid the most attention to by the interviewees.

5 Table of Contents List of Figures... iv List of Tables... iv 1. Introduction Background Research focus and research question Research Purpose and Contribution Delimitation Literature Review Review Strategy Review Findings Literature Framework Data Center Management Operations Management Sustainability Factors in Strategic Operations Decisions Structural Factors Infrastructural Factors Factors related to Environmental Sustainability Pressures Trends Research Methodology Research Process Research Question Literature Review Research Framework Data Collection and Techniques Interview Process Selection of Interview Partners Mapping of Research Questions to Interview Questions Interview Analysis Research Quality Research Ethics Research Critique i

6 4. Data Presentation and Analysis Background presentation of participating Organizations Background presentation of participating Interviewees Presentation of Interview Interview A / Trends Pressures Factors Factors related to environmental sustainability Interview B / Trends Pressures Factors Factors related to environmental sustainability Interview C / Trends Pressures Factors Factors related to environmental sustainability Interview D / Trends Pressures Factors Factors related to environmental sustainability Interview E / Trends Pressures Factors Factors related to environmental sustainability Detailed Analysis and Discussion of Trends, Pressures and Factors Trends, Pressures and Factors mentioned by the interviewees Discussion of identified trends, pressures and factors Final Decision Making Research Model Conclusions Generalizability ii

7 Final Contribution Future Research Appendices Appendix A1 - Interview Guide English Appendix A2 - Interview Guide German Appendix A3 - Interview Guide Greek Appendix B Transcription of Interview Appendix C Transcription of Interview Appendix D Transcription of Interview Appendix E Transcription of Interview Appendix F Transcription of Interview Bibliography iii

8 List of Figures FIGURE 2.1 TYPICAL DATA CENTER (CHANDRA, 2010) FIGURE 2.2 STRATEGIC OPERATIONS DECISSIONS FACTORS FIGURE 3.1 EXTENDED ARCHITECTURE FOR SERVICE DELIVERY FIGURE 3.2 INITIAL DECISION MAKING RESEARCH MODEL FIGURE 3.3 MAPPING OF RESEARCH QUESTIONS TO INTERVIEW QUESTIONS FIGURE 4.1 FINAL DECISION MAKING RESEARCH MODEL List of Tables TABLE 2.1 KEYWORD SEARCH TERMS... 5 TABLE 2.2 OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT FACTORS TABLE 2.3 ENERGY EFFICIENCY FACTORS TABLE 2.4 FACTORS RELATED TO COOLING TECHNIQUES TABLE 2.5 GREEN IT FACTORS TABLE 2.6 COMBINATION OF FACTORS RELATED TO DATA CENTER OPERATIONS TABLE 3.1 COLOR SCHEME TO IDENTIFY TEXT PARTS TABLE 4.1 PARTICIPATING ORGANIZATIONS AND ORGANIZATIONAL UNITS TABLE 4.2 PARTICIPATING INTERVIEWEES TABLE 4.3 TRENDS, PRESSURES AND FACTORS FROM INTERVIEWEES TABLE 4.4 TRENDS IDENTIFIED BY INTERVIEWEES TABLE 4.5 PRESSURES IDENTIFIED BY INTERVIEWEES TABLE 4.6 FACTORS IDENTIFIED BY INTERVIEWEES TABLE 4.7 FACTORS RELATED TO ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABLITY IDENTIFIED BY INTERVIEWEES iv

9 1. Introduction 1.1 Background Current reports state that the agendas of enterprises, governments and societies increasingly include how to tackle environmental problems and how to adopt new environmental practices. This trend is leading to a global dialogue about natural capital and the greening of economies. (Murugesan, 2008) Furthermore the dialogue is fostered by the awareness and increasing demand for actions to deal with climate change that became prominent in the first half of the 21 st century. Although this increase in awareness contributes to the effort that is undertaken to ensure environmental sustainability, the overall global progress to achieve this goal is slow. (United Nations Environment Programme, 2011) Since the seventies, the term sustainable was made tangible and gained popularity in academia as well as in the non-academic world (Davison, 2008). Moreover, it found its way of being widely used for defining Sustainable Development as of the World Commission on Environment and Development (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, p. 51) that published the following definition: Sustainable development seeks to meet the needs and aspirations of the present without compromising the ability to meet those of the future. In the last decades, the rapid development and availability of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has changed and contributed to an improved lifestyle of modern society regarding the everyday life (United Nations Environment Programme, 2011; Murugesan, 2008). As of 2007 the ICT Sector inherits 7.3% of global GDP and is predicted to reach the value of 8.7% by 2020 (The Climate Group, 2008). In addition to the beneficial contribution of ICT and the rapid growth of this industry, it also came paired with negative aspects throughout its lifecycle beginning with the production of ICT products, their use and their disposal. Those negative aspects include the increasing amount of electronic waste (e-waste). Due to the short lifetimes of ICT products, an increasing amount of disposed electronic waste is present and is causing environmental contamination (Herat & Bahadir, 2007; Elliot & Binney, 2008; Kurp, 2008). Moreover, the energy used by ICTs is generated using mainly fossil fuels which present another way of its contribution to an increase in CO 2 emissions and thus the greenhouse gas effect. The trend that started to develop in the ICT industry, creating and introducing Green products, addresses this issue. The goal is to decrease the amount of the contribution of ICTs to these emissions. (Katzer, 2007; Kurp, 2008; The Climate Group, 2008) 1

10 The energy needed during the manufacturing process of a personal computer is four times bigger than the total annual amount of electricity that is consumed by the personal computer throughout its whole life cycle. Moreover, the amount of energy a computer consumes exceeds the energy a refrigerator needs per year (Williams, et al., 2008). Furthermore, the users high demand of Internet and Web applications is also leading to the rapid increase of the amount of data centers that are needed by the enterprises to provide these services. This is achieved by extending existing data centers up to their limit in special capacity, or by establishing new ones, also in areas that have not been serviced by data centers before. In the rapid process of this expansion in the last decades this resulted in a six fold increase of the number of installed server computers in the world (Murugesan, 2008). 1.2 Research focus and research question As pointed out in the Background section of this thesis it can be seen that ICT, besides the given positive impacts, such as optimization, efficiency, connectivity and so forth, also has a negative impact in terms of generating environmental problems along the life cycle. Data centers (DCs), which are a specific and wide spread type of ICT, consume significant amounts of electricity. Reports state, using the examples of Apple and Google, that Apple s data center continuous consumption is equal to the energy consumption of 250,000 households while Google s equals 200,000 households (Cook & Van Horn, 2011; Glanz, 2011). This creates bigger demands for electricity production, the estimated growth for 2012 is 19%, thus increasing CO 2 emissions and contributing to faster pace of global warming (DatacenterDynamics, 2011; Vykoukal, et al., 2009). In 2010 data centers were estimated to consume 1.3% of globally produced electricity, accounting for $7.2 billion electricity costs (Koomey, 2007; Koomey, 2011). The increasing prices of energy worldwide result in higher operational expenses of data centers, which is equal to 20% of the total cost of ownership of a data center (APC, 2005; Murugesan, 2008). Although, these facts suggest data center management to be highly relevant, constraints such as financial, practical and social might hinder the reduction of data center energy consumption in businesses and their IT departments. IBM s and Economist Intelligence Unit s (EIU) research claims that only 45% of the organizations have a program to deal with greening issues and, among those, less than half (48%) of them have specific program targets. (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2007; Murugesan, 2008) 2

11 Having introduced the Problem of ICT and Sustainability with the focus on data centers we conclude our Problem Statement with the following set of research questions (RQ): RQ1: What trends, pressures and factors affect Strategic Data Center Management decisions? RQ1a: Is there prioritization within the factors? RQ1b: Do these factors affect each other and if then how? RQ2: What is the role of Sustainability in these decisions? We want to explore the Trends, Pressures and Factors that are considered in a data center management operation. We furthermore want to explore the extent of the consideration of environmental aspects in strategic data center management decisions. Moreover, we want to find out if there is a priority between the factors and also if these factors affect each other and how. 1.3 Research Purpose and Contribution The purpose of this research is to identify the Trends, Pressures and Factors that are considered relevant regarding managerial decisions during the operation of a data center. Furthermore, the role of environmental sustainability in these decisions will be examined. This is seen relevant as one can find a lot of articles and general talk about the topic of Sustainability in this field, but not so much about what is really done and what is thought by managers and decision makers in the industry. The factors identified during this research will be prioritized and the connection between the factors will be examined. We aimed to contribute through creating a research model, based on theory in service operations management and incorporation of sustainable aspects of data center technologies. This model was tested by carrying out interviews with different data center professionals. After testing the model it was altered and then presented in a final model. In addition the contribution to the existing literature this research could then be used to further drive the development of a model relevant for data center professionals throughout the different stages of the life cycle of such an operation. It can be seen as an initial step that can be taken in to further studies. Moreover, it could help organizations as a point of venture to deploy their data centers in a way that aims to drive both, economic and environmental sustainability. 3

12 1.4 Delimitation We do not intend to carry out an in-depth investigation about general organizational factors, as we are want to give the more prominent role in this research to trends, pressures and factors in relation to strategic data center management decisions that are set in relation with environmentally sustainable factors. In contrary to the prominent role of environmental sustainability we do not aim to only provide a thesis written in an environmentally friendly style rather than exploring the perception of these issues in the real world. Although we will incorporate technological approaches that have the ability to contribute to sustainability, we will not include a detailed technical analysis of those Green IT aspects, as we will focus on the Trends, Factors, and Pressures that affect data centers mainly on a data center management level. The point of connections among and factors of how the factors affect each other will be represented in the model. However, a detailed research into why and how much they affect each other will not be carried out. 4

13 2. Literature Review This chapter presents the literature review that has been carried out during the research. In order to build up the research framework, and before embarking further into the research, a literature review has been done to provide a well-grounded and thorough foundation required to carry out substantial and useful research (Boote & Beile, 2006). Moreover, the literature review aims to provide the intellectual context the work is set in and to show the ability to navigate and evaluate work already carried out in the field. This includes the identification of opposing views, relevant methods, and people that are working in the same area. Furthermore, the aim is set at preventing the researcher from reinventing the wheel, and to identify gaps that exist in the literature. In addition, the aim is to reveal areas of possible further research, and to being able to close the identified gaps by carrying out the research. (Bruce, 1990) 2.1 Review Strategy The literature review was carried out using several commonly used techniques. It was first started with a keyword search approach directly targeting the main topic of the research which is data center management and its factors, including pressures and trends with a focus on sustainability. The first step was to identify the relevant categories to match keywords with the topic. A list of keywords was then assigned to each category and the research was carried out. Table 2.1 provides the categories and the related search terms. Table 2.1 Keyword search terms Category Data Center centered search terms aiming to identify literature directly related to the research carried out in this study Sustainability, Green and ICT centered search terms Management and ICT centered search terms Search terms Data Center Management, Data Center Infrastructure Management, Data Center Operations Management, Data Center Management Factors, Sustainable Data Center Management, Sustainable Data Center Operation, Data center Management Trends, Data Center Management Pressures, Data Center Management Challenges Sustainable Data Center, Green Data Center Operations, Sustainable ICT Infrastructure, Green ICT Management, Sustainable IT Infrastructure Trends and Pressures for sustainable ICT, Green ICT Operations, Operational Management, Operations Management Factors, ICT Operations Management, ICT Service Operations, Management and Green ICT, ICT Management, ICT Service Management, Service Operations Management 5

14 Literature identified as being relevant for the research carried out was then used to further develop the process of finding relevant publications by using the methods of Bibliographic Mining and Cited Reference searching. Thus relevant publications within the found articles could be identified and more recent work that used the relevant articles was found in addition. These publications were then further examined regarding their relevance to the research topic. 2.2 Review Findings Green Information Systems (Green IS) and Green Information and Communication Technology (Green ICT), in the specific case of this research Green Information Technology (Green IT), are topics that receive extensive attention from scholars and researchers in the academic world. However in all of these fields, Management and Technology related publications regarding data center management and thus also the literature and publications on Sustainable or Green data center management was found to be almost non-existent. Extensive research is being carried out regarding the technological and electrical aspects of how to minimize electrical consumption and increase efficiency in data centers. In regard to the field of Management research this was not found in a similar amount and a holistic management perspective could not be identified. Furthermore, also the literature regarding general and operational management of a data center that inherits all aspects needed to be included to provide a holistic perspective. A framework for managers working in the field could not be identified in a manner that appropriately addresses the issues that have been introduced in chapter one. Thus, it can be summarized that in the process of carrying out the search for relevant literature in the field a significant gap between data center management and environmental sustainability, using the defined search terms and resulting in insufficient results, was identified. Chandra & Prasad (2010) elaborate on the fact that the topic of data centers is relatively new to the field, and thus the lack of wide spread literature on the topic can be explained. However, IT managers find themselves increasingly confronted with pressures from several sides and leading to an increased prominence and relevance of the topic in the non-academic world. Moreover, this also leads up to an increasing relevance in the field of academia to provide the non-academic world with relevant frameworks and guidelines (Chandra & Prasad, 2010). While there is a literature gap in the world of academia, the research carried out by the industry is extensive. The number of publications such as relevant books that are published is however still low. Also publications such as whitepapers and guidelines are not always freely available. The focus in the industry is set on providing 6

15 applications and tools for data center management that are bundled with and imply an overall strategy. Models are often the base and a part of a tool that is sold by a vendor in the industry, but are not complete or can be used separately from the specific solution. Cross-organizational support in terms of general standards is also very limited. Only one widely accredited standard that especially addresses data centers is available in the industry. The TIA-942 Telecommunications infrastructure standard for data centers provides specifications about the requirements that are to be met in order to run an ICT Infrastructure such as a data center and computer rooms. The standard is scalable and adaptable to all sizes of data centers, thus providing information supporting data centers from single tenant enterprise hosting to multitenant Internet hosting (IHS, 2005). A recently published standard explicitly aiming at sustainable data center management was published in 2011 and explicitly aims at increasing organizations efficiency in terms of their data center, thus promoting their sustainability (ida Singapore, 2011). For further elaboration and construction of the research framework the literature research was therefore adapted to address the issues of the gaps between these different fields. This was done to identify relevant publications that fit into the multidisciplinary research setting. Instead of only searching for keywords directly relating to the topic, keywords that used a less direct approach, which also can be found in Table 2.1, were added. 2.3 Literature Framework As mentioned in the section before, the area of data center management is a highly multidisciplinary field bringing together different aspects of management such as ICT management, Business Continuity Management, Facility Management and so forth. Moreover, aspects of engineering such as for example Electric Engineering, Environmental Engineering have to be considered as well. The aim of this section is to provide definitions of the main objects that are dealt with in this study regarding Trends, Pressures and Factors that affect data center management with a focus on sustainability Data Center Management The main object of this study is related to data center operations and relevant factors that influence the management decisions. In order to elaborate on the literature on data centers, the terms Data center is defined and set into a context with its overall environment. As pointed out in the introduction, the rise in the amount of data centers 7

16 in recent years has been significant and structures that assemble data centers can be found throughout organizations and industries all over the world. Depending on what type of literature one reads, the definition of a data center can vary depending on the perspective and background from which a data center facility is looked at. Coming from a technical background of literature published by Cisco Press with the aim to provide information about data center technologies a definition of a data center is (Arregoces & Mauricio, 2004): Data centers house critical computing resources in controlled environments and under centralized management, which enable enterprises to operate around the clock or according to their business needs. These computing resources include mainframes; web and application servers; file and print servers; messaging servers; application software and the operating systems that run them; storage subsystems; and the network infrastructure, whether IP or storage-area network (SAN). [ ] Additionally a number of servers support network operations and network-based applications. Network operation applications include Network Time Protocol (NTP); TN3270; FTP; Domain Name System (DNS), [ ]. (Arregoces & Mauricio, 2004, p. 5) This provides an extensive definition of a data center in terms of its requirements for technical capabilities and also provides a minor link to the fact that a data center is a structure that exists not for the purpose to solely exist, but to support an organization that operates using the services provided by a data center. There are alternative definitions of the term data center that mainly concern its size or area of operation and purpose such as in Beck (2001): [...] buildings with high concentrations of computers and digital electronic equipment dedicated to hosting websites, supporting e-commerce and providing essential services [ ]. (Beck, 2001, p. 1) This study however takes all data centers independent from their scale and purpose into consideration. Chandra (2010) defines data centers and also raises the awareness that terms such as server farm are used in the industry Moreover, he adds surrounding aspects of a data center in terms of the facility itself to the definition. These aspects include for example environmental controls and security: [ ] a data center also called a server farm, is defined as a facility used to house computer systems and associated components, such as telecommunications and storage systems. It generally includes redundant or backup power supplies, redundant data communication connections, environmental controls (e.g., air conditioning, fire suppression) and security devices. Data centers house typical computing resources in controlled environments, managed centrally to enable enterprises to operate according to business needs. (Chandra & Prasad, 2010, p. 129) 8

17 All of the above introduced definitions have one main characteristic in common. As stated before providing the definitions, a data center s main purpose is to support a business whether this exists as brick and mortar -business in the real world, as an e- business in the virtual world, or in both of them. Moreover, the definitions now provide a clear line of statements clarifying that a data center consists of more than just ICT equipment. It consists of the total aspects regarding the requirements to grant a continuous support of the relying business including managerial, technological, environmental, and security aspects. Therefore the management of a complex structure like the one represented by a data center facility has to take all of the challenges coming from those different areas into consideration in order to provide a maximum support (Mukherjee, et al., 2010). Figure 2.1 shows a high level abstract of a typical data center. Chandra (2010) points out that the typical components that are relevant for a data center consist of its servers, including hard- and software, and the energy that is needed to run those and the battery backup. Moreover, multiple physical and virtual network connections operated by capable networking devices, such as routers and switches to provide connectivity are a key component. In addition, the fact of operating the facility at the right temperature and humidity using conditioned air is a key. In Figure 2.1 the black rectangle presents the physical border between internal and external world. This also represents the security aspect of having the data center set up in a security perimeter to protect data stored in the facility. The total of these aspects represents the core services that can be developed and offered to internal or external clients by a data center. 9

18 Network Multiple physical network connections Core Services Conditioned Air Temperature / Humidity Gigabit Network UPS Client Servers Power Power Conditioning UPS Battery Backup Figure Typical Data Center (Chandra, 2010) A major challenge for current data centers is an increased demand in strategic operations management that is imposed on them. The increasing complexity of data centers operations lead to an increased amount of campaigns of re-evaluation of investments in terms of day to day sufficiency. This is essential as only the adoption and implementation of the best practices leads to the desired performance of the operation. Furthermore, the complexity of the operation shows that decisions have to be made on all levels of information, and only a combined approach of long term strategies and daily operation processes is suitable to manage a data center. (Chandra & Prasad, 2010) To move on in the research once more has to be pointed out from the literature that a data center is a service operations provider. The various services that have been mentioned in detail in the definitions before are usually provided on the basis of Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that are specified between the participating parties. This is prominent independent of whether these are internal, external or mixed parties, are involved in such an agreement. They usually include exact specifications about what service is provided, how the service is delivered, who will measure the delivery and how this is done. Moreover, this includes procedures about what will happen if 10

19 the provider fails to provide the service, and how the SLA might change over time. (Wustenhoff, 2002; Mukherjee, et al., 2010) Operations Management Continuing from the previous section and having data centers defined as belonging to operational units that can offer various services to their stakeholders, the literature was then further examined to identify relevant theoretical frameworks for our study. Due to the gaps that were identified in chapter 2.2, and the lack of explicit theory that addresses data center management, the focus was then set on operational management theory and service science theory. A basic definition of operations management is: Operations management is concerned with those activities that enable an organization (and not just one part of it) to transform a range of basic inputs (materials, energy, customers requirements, information, skills, finance, etc.) into outputs for the end customer. (Brown, et al., 2005, p. 8) In terms of a data center it has to be brought into consideration again, that a data center in our definition ranges from single tenant enterprise hosting to multitenant Internet hosting. The production or better stated the provision of the service has to be seen as being carried out within an organizational unit of a data center, independent of scale. Therefore, it is legitimate to say that this, seen as the whole organization, confers with the above stated definition of operations management. Academically operations management represents a part of service science theory. Operations management is furthermore described as a function that interacts and depends on the strategy, the infrastructure, business processes and the underlying systems, also including the people that operate the system (Angell & Klassen, 1999). Service science builds on the process that represents the foundation for the offered service. By closer examination of the entity service, it was found that it deals with the processes, the incorporated people, means of performance, and technologies (Galup, et al., 2009). In regard to Information Technology (IT) many fields contribute to the field of IT Service Management (ITSM). Contributing fields include for instance [ ] computer science, operations research, industrial engineering, business strategy, management sciences, social and cognitive science, organizational theory [ ] (Galup, et al., 2009). Thus a data center can be seen as a complex unit of operations that offers services comprising of multidisciplinary inputs. According to our literature search, using the defined search terms, there is a large amount of literature available concerning operations management. In order to find the key factors for operations management a literature review that included publications over a period of more than thirty years, fitting the search criteria that were introduced in chapter 2.1 was carried out. This provided a list of factors that have been accounted 11

20 (Adam & Swamidass, 1989) * (Brown, et al., 2001) (Fitzsimmo ns & Fitzsimmon s, 2006) (Heineke & Davis, 2007) * (Roth & Menor, 2003) (Snevely, 2002) (Ward, et al., 1998) * (Wheelwrig ht & Hayes, 1984) (Winter & Kellogg, 1999) # of times mentioned Trends, Pressures and Factors that affect Data center Management taking Environmental for being significant since the dawn of operations management research in the early eighties and moreover paying attention to changes over time. Service operations managers have to deal with an extensive amount of structural, infrastructural, integration, and managerial factors (Roth & Menor, 2003; Upton, 1997). Table 2.2 shows the factors identified in the publications including their overall occurrence across the selected literature. Table 2.2 Operations Management Factors Factors/Authors Human Resources Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7 Facilities Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7 Quality Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 9 Capacity Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 9 Processes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7 Products/Services Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 8 Operations Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7 Strategy/Planning Vendors & Suppliers Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 5 Efficiency Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7 Flexibility Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 6 Costs Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 8 Globalization Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 5 Vertical Integration Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 7 Customer Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 5 Technology Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 8 *Empirical studies The factors that occurred with the highest frequency were Quality and Capacity, followed by Products/Services, Costs, and Technology. The next group consists of Human Resources, Facilities, Processes, Operations Strategy/Planning, Efficiency and Vertical Integration. Flexibility, Vendor & Supplier, Globalization and Customer were the least mentioned when it came to factors of operations management. Among the identified factors, it was argued throughout the literature that the set of quality, flexibility, cost, and efficiency are issues that are relevant for all the rest of the mentioned factors. It can be said, that the combination of how an operation is managed in regard to the other factors adds up to the overall capability in terms of the mentioned issues. In the introduced model, these factors have therefore been included in the Service Delivery System, which is based on the underlying factors. Furthermore, the Factors are separated into structural and infrastructural factors. Structural factors include all brick-and-mortar factors including for example fundamental determinants such as location, size, vertical integration and technology. Decisions in this category are usually based with a long term perspective, and changes 12