Internet Data Center (IDC)

        An Internet Data Center (IDC) is a specialized facility that provides core infrastructure support for internet applications. By centrally deploying servers, storage devices, network switching equipment, and supporting power, cooling, and security systems, it delivers critical services such as data storage, computing processing, and network access to enterprises, institutions, and individuals. As the "information hub" of the digital economy era, IDCs ensure stable operations for various digital applications including cloud computing, big data, IoT, and artificial intelligence.

        Core function: "infrastructure base" of the digital world

        . **Data storage and management**

        As a "physical warehouse" for massive data, IDC delivers secure and reliable storage solutions through advanced technologies like high-performance storage arrays and distributed file systems. It supports long-term preservation and rapid retrieval of both structured data (e.g., transactional records) and unstructured data (e.g., video files and logs), meeting the high-capacity and reliability demands of industries such as finance, healthcare, and e-commerce.

        **Computing and computing power output**

        Leveraging cluster servers and virtualization technology, IDC provides users with elastic computing resources. For example, e-commerce platforms can temporarily scale up server computing power during peak periods like "Singles 'Day", while short video platforms utilize IDC's GPU clusters to support AI-powered video processing, enabling on-demand allocation and flexible scheduling of computing services.

        **Network connectivity and bandwidth services**

        IDCs typically connect to multi-carrier backbone networks, offering high-bandwidth and low-latency connectivity to ensure efficient global data transmission. By deploying CDN (Content Delivery Network) nodes, video content and web pages are cached near user endpoints at edge IDCs, effectively reducing access latency and enhancing user experience.

        **Operation and maintenance and disaster recovery**

        Provide 7×24 hours of uninterrupted operation and maintenance services, including equipment monitoring, troubleshooting, system upgrade, etc. In addition, through the remote disaster recovery plan, when the main data center fails, it can be quickly switched to the backup IDC to ensure business continuity (such as the transaction system disaster recovery of financial institutions).

        Key technology: the core capability to support stable operation

        **Infrastructure technology**       

        ** Power Assurance**: A redundant power supply system integrating dual mains circuits, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply), and diesel generators ensures over 99.99% reliability. - **Cooling System**: Utilizing precision air conditioning, cold aisle containment, and liquid cooling technology, the data center maintains temperatures between 18-27°℃ with humidity controlled at 40%-60%, preventing equipment failure from overheating. - **Security System**: Featuring biometric authentication (fingerprint/face recognition), video surveillance, access control systems, and physical barriers, this integrated security framework safeguards against unauthorized access while ensuring data integrity. 

        **IT Architecture**

        **Virtualization and Cloud Computing**: VMware, KVM and other technologies are used to virtualize physical servers into multiple virtual machines to improve resource utilization; OpenStack, AWS and other cloud platforms are integrated to provide IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service) and PaaS (Platform as a Service).

        **Network virtualization**: SDN (Software Defined Network) technology enables flexible configuration of network resources, and VXLAN protocol supports virtual machine migration across data centers to meet the needs of dynamic service expansion.

        ** Data security technology **: Deploy firewalls, intrusion detection system (IDS), data encryption (transmission encryption, storage encryption) and vulnerability scanning to resist network attacks and data leakage risks.

        **By scale and positioning**

        Super-large data centers: such as Tencent Tianjin Data Center and Amazon Oregon Data Center in the United States, with more than 100,000 cabinets to support global services. -Regional data centers: covering a province or urban agglomeration to meet local data storage and processing needs such as government affairs and medical care.

        **Typical application scenarios**

        Internet Enterprises: Support user data storage and content distribution for social platforms (e.g., WeChat) and short video platforms (e.g., TikTok). -Financial Sector: Host core banking transaction systems and high-frequency securities trading data, requiring high availability (over 99.999%) and compliance standards. -Government Services: Store population and medical insurance data, enabling cross-departmental data sharing through IDCs (e.g., "One-Stop Online Service" platform). -Industrial Applications: Interface with industrial sensor data for real-time analysis at edge IDCs, supporting equipment monitoring and early warning systems in smart manufacturing.

        Development trend: green, intelligent and global

        ** Green and energy saving, moving towards "zero carbon" **

        The global data center energy consumption ratio has been rising annually (accounting for approximately 1-1.5% of worldwide electricity usage), with green transformation emerging as the core trend. By adopting liquid cooling technology (reducing PUE values below 1.1 compared to traditional air-cooled systems at 1.5-2.0), utilizing renewable energy sources like wind and solar power, and implementing waste heat recovery systems (as exemplified by Microsoft's Swedish data center providing residential heating), the construction of "carbon-neutral data centers" is being actively promoted.

       Intelligent operation and maintenance

        Introducing AI and Internet of Things technology to realize "unattended": AI algorithm predicts equipment failure (such as hard disk life, air conditioning efficiency), Internet of things sensors monitor temperature, humidity and power parameters in real time, and automated operation and maintenance platform (such as Ansible) realizes batch configuration and self-healing of faults, reducing labor costs and improving reliability.

        **Edge and core synergy**

        5G and the Internet of Things promote the rapid development of edge data centers, forming a "edge processing + core storage" collaborative architecture with core data centers: Edge IDC processes real-time data (such as road condition analysis for autonomous driving), while core IDC stores historical data and conducts in-depth analysis (such as user behavior modeling) to balance latency and computing power requirements.

        **Globalization and compliance**

        Multinational corporations deploy data centers across regions (e.g., Apple's IDCs in Europe and Asia) to comply with data localization regulations like the EU's GDPR while reducing cross-regional transmission delays. Meanwhile, heightened data sovereignty awareness and increasingly stringent security reviews for IDCs in countries such as China's Data Security Law are driving compliance upgrades in IDC construction. As the "nerve center" of the digital economy, the technological evolution and deployment of Internet data centers not only influence internet application experiences but also impact global issues including data security and energy sustainability. Transitioning from traditional physical server rooms to intelligent infrastructure integrating cloud, edge, and endpoint solutions, IDCs are evolving from mere "data storage hubs" into "computing power centers" and "green energy nodes," supporting the efficient operation of digital societies.