The data-processing centers can be called the "heart" of each bank: on the one hand, the DPCs serve as the keeper of the high-tech equipment providing a roof over its head, and on the other hand - it is the data centers that make it possible to analyze, store and distribute the huge amount of information which is necessary for the accounting preparation and de­sign of the business processes.

Currently a user may choose one of the several DPC types. A processing center may be created by efforts of the organiza­tion - in this case it will solve the tasks of the company only. Although, by setting oneself to the heavy work of establishing a data center one should keep in mind: a considerable number of the Russian companies are located in the buildings that are not adapted to storing equip­ment from the technical perspective.

By engaging an outsourcing (com­mercial) data-processing center a cus­tomer gains possibility to locate the own servers in the remote premises and being charged the agreed amount for that, such service is called collocation. A customer may pay for the use of a pair of units or a few entire racks.

The cloud DPC went to the even greater extremes: they provide certain spare capacity to the customer through Internet and the user has no idea how many servers serve him and where they are located. In Russia there are Inter­net service providers that are ready to render such services, thanks to this the DPC servicing entirely falls within the business of the outsourcers. Although, the experts find certain disadvantages in this approach: firstly, the high cost of the cloud data centers and, secondly, certain risks from the security perspec­tive. But according to those using this service these negative factors are com­pensated by convenience and elimina­tion of non-core banking costs.

By making decision on the DPC creation or leasing it is needed to keep in mind the difficulties that may arise in the user's path. In case of arranging a data center inside of the company there is a risk not to estimate the business growth rates adequately. The mistakes in planning and scheduling may result in, for example, that a major part of the servers purchased will appear to be unused and the equipment maintenance costs - to be unreasonable.

Besides, it is also worth mention­ing the huge expenses on construction of the building for storing information, electrification, installation of the fire-extinguishing and air conditions sys­tems. The non-compliance with certain requirements (i.e. absence of the partic­ular conditions) may result in that the data center will not be assigned the high degree of reliability.

The DPC compliance with a number of standards is determined according to the Tier classification. Its advantage is that it considers the maximum number of parameters by which a DPC may be evaluated: utilities condition, amount of the fuel for the generator, center remoteness from the residential areas, etc. The only negative indicator may cause the interruption of the data center operation for a few hours. The number of such parameters, data on the number of interruption per year establish the dead time limit.

The Tier classification suggests assignment of one of the four reliabil­ity levels. The Tier 1 supposes interrup­tion of the system operation and system repair in case of failure. The Tier 2 sup­poses continuous DPC operation with a single reservation: should the necessity arise the system will stop to work with nodes for the failure elimination. The Tier 3 supposes that rare failures are eliminated without shutting the system down; the interruptions are admissi­ble only in uttermost cases when a few nodes fail simultaneously. The level suggests significant rate of the duplica­tion of information. In case of Tier 4 all the data are completely duplicated. In fact, the specified category provides for presence of the two DOC of the Tier 2 level under one roof.

However, the Tier classification cannot be considered as the perfect DPC standardization method. There are such documents as the TIA 942 typol­ogy and classification by the Uptime Institute company, the both describe the Tier levels but in different ways. Thus, the Uptime Institute performs monitor­ing of the particular events happening to the DPC and then prepares recom­mendations in respect of each incident which serve as a useful aid for the DPC designers. In the TIA 942 typology many events that may affect the DPC state have been taken into consideration. These include: natural (earthquakes, presence of underground waters, wind direction), man-made (proximity to the roads, airports, parking lots, noise and vibration sources) and social factors (local criminalization level, number of the lessees in a building).

Thus, the same level described in different documents will appear differ­ent. Such inconsistency may result in stop in the DPC operation. The identi­cal name of the levels suggests different approaches upon assignment thereof: certification with or without the on-site review. If a user does not know the man­ner in which the DPC was inspected the method of the level assignment should be defined.

Some researchers of the DPC mar­ket suggest that the data center cer­tification according to the Western standards is only a tribute to fashion, in respect of the Russian DPCs application and keeping up with it is not mandatory and not regulated by law. Besides, the process of the certificate obtainment is rather long and requires considerable time and financial expenditures. On the territory of the Russian Federation one should rather refer to the construc­tion standards and regulations provid­ing comprehensive information on the procedure according to which a facil­ity shall be constructed. However, the experts believe that familiarization with the international standards and regula­tions will be a god practice.

The Russian companies still quite often choose the DPCs on their own. Meanwhile, the services on the qualified selection of data centers for the custom­ers are becoming more and more popu­lar. The relevant consulting companies perform auditing of the selected candi­dates after which they draw a conclu­sion on compliance or non-compliance of one or another DPC with the needs of a particular bank.

So what a perfect data center should be like? A data-processing center shall be located back away from the resi­dential buildings, the risk of the area flooding shall be eliminated. A perfect DPC is reliably secured against loss of power by means of the two independent power supply units (UPS) and detached diesel generator sets (no-break pow­er supply). The bearing capacity of the data center floor is calculated on the basis of the indicator that equals five tons per a square meter. The fire-extinguishing system shall be mounted with due regard to the high cost of the equipment installed in the DPC (as a rule, such system includes the warning and alarm devices and automatic flame suppression units). The data center area shall be guarded 24/7. It should not be forgotten that the DPC operation and maintenance require numerous staff: system administrators, employees of the procurement service, networking pro­fessionals, accountants.

The CRN company (USA) annu­ally makes the "Fast Growth 150" list containing information about the most dynamically developing companies designing IT solutions. In 2013 the companies from the "Fast Growth 150" list in 93% of cases gave preference to development of the DPC, this makes it obvious that they consider the specified business area as one of the most prom­ising. As to Russia, according to the RBC.Research the last seven years were the years of the intensive entry of the new large data centers into the market. Within the specified period of time the market volume increased by 25-50% annually.