THE EDGE he rapid growth of the data centre sector has caused a

As many as 50 % of data centre managers reported difficulties in finding qualified candidates to fill open roles , up from 41 % last year and 38 % in 2018 . Some operators are recruiting outside the industry and retraining staff much more actively and many are turning to outsourced resources . The drivers behind this are many and various . In some regions , the problem is being fuelled by a straightforward shortage of engineers , in others , significant growth in the number of new data centres is ramping up unsustainable demand for staff .

Additionally , of course , operating a 24 / 7 data centre typically requires second and third shift work for entry level positions – and that can be a disincentive for new applicants . Many may decide to opt instead for more of a 9 – 5 role within the sector or choose a career in an alternative area of engineering . Often too , organisations may find that they simply do not have an available local population with the necessary skills to fulfil data centre jobs because they are building these data centres in areas that are predominantly rural , where power is cheaper , or in climates where there is more natural cooling , but few local people with the skills they require .

All of this does not take into account the compounding effects of the current pandemic . There is likely to be some reluctance to hire data centre staff that the organisation hasn ’ t physically sat down with , to come into a data centre environment , especially if that data centre is colocated and multi-tenancy focused . If management has not met the individual face-to-face , there may be some reluctance to appoint them and trust them with the security of that environment .

Finding staff with the right skills to fill data centre positions locally is , in other words , very difficult and getting more so . Compounding the problems for data centre managers , COVID precautions make access to data centres much more difficult even for existing staff . From the outset of the pandemic , many organisations restricted access to the data centre to just a few more senior members of the engineering team .

Navigating the staffing shortage

Fortunately , there is a solution available to the current challenge of data centre skills shortages . Technology can play a key role here in easing the problem . The latest smart Out-of-Band management solutions are designed to give engineers either a secondary connection or a cellular backup connection when the primary access to the network has been lost .

This enables engineers to remotely log into the network using multiple methods , whether it is over their primary WAN connection or their cellular failover . That means that if they make a change remotely and lose their primary access , they have a cellular backup – even into serial ports or Ethernet – that enables them to restore

their configuration to regain primary access or continue operations .

Added to this , VPN tunnels give engineers and engineering teams that physical premise experience without having to be physically present . Together , this can provide a secure way to remotely connect to equipment and manage and restore devices .

NetOps and network automation can help here too , especially as new data centres come online and ramp up their activity . As part of a concept known as day one provisioning , network engineers can send our pre-configured Smart Out-of-Band console servers with NetOps Automation features to the site .

www . intelligentdatacentres . com Issue 22

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