So, you're thinking of migrating workloads from your on-premise data centre to the cloud.

You're not alone. More and more enterprises have made the move and it's been predicted that, by 2025, 80% of enterprises will have shut down their data centres.

By now, the business case for cloud migration is fairly well-established. It's more flexible, more agile, more cost-effective. But as with any technological shift, the question of what to do with old equipment is persistent. Will the globe soon be littered with disused data centres, gathering dust like old mines and quarries?

Well, probably not. The options for repurposing data centre buildings and the equipment they house are many.

The question becomes more complex when an enterprise decides to downsize its data centre rather than decommission it entirely. A hybrid cloud environment – where workloads are split between an on-prem data centre and the cloud – has its advantages. But it could well lead to a private data centre with empty racks.

In this article, we look at your options for repurposing or downsizing a data centre after cloud migration. But first: why does it matter?

Why should a data centre be repurposed after cloud migration?

There are two interlinked reasons for repurposing a data centre after cloud migration. The first is money – the second, sustainability.

A data centre filled with cobwebs is a waste of space and money. Putting it to a different use means maximising its moneymaking potential. The same goes for equipment. Why clutter up the place with idle servers when you could sell them or recycle them?

But reuse isn't just about your bottom line – it's also about sustainability. Many enterprises are looking to go green – and minimising waste is the cornerstone of any environmental policy.

The twin principles of saving money and the planet apply when a data centre is being downsized and when it's being shut down altogether. In both cases, you can show your commitment to sustainable practices.

How can the data centre building be repurposed?

There are a few options here. One is to repurpose the facility yourself. You could strip out the old equipment and convert the facility into office space.

Another option is to become a colocation provider by renting the space to another business. This is a handy way of maintaining a revenue stream from the facility without covering overheads yourself.

Finally, there's the opportunity to turn the space into something completely different – or to sell it to somebody who will.

In urban planning, this is known as "adaptive reuse". It can be anything from turning a Grade II-listed Presbyterian church into a pub to selling coffee from a disused telephone box.

An old data centre in Northern Virginia has been transformed into a vertical farm, and one in downtown Denver is now a 12-storey office building.

These are two initiatives that put the planet first. The office building was fitted out with glass, reclaimed wood and recycled steel and it uses significantly less embodied carbon than an identical new-build would.

So if you decommission your private data centre after migrating to the cloud, you have several options. But there remains the question of what to do with all the servers, racks, cables and the rest.

How can data centre equipment be repurposed?

If your data centre is decommissioned, it's usual to outsource the job. While it's possible to decommission your facility in-house, it can be advisable to get an external team in to ensure it's done methodically and safely.

It's a lengthy process – the removal version of a deep clean. Servers are taken off their racks. Disc arrays, switches and routers are removed. Hard drives are pulled and data wiped. Rail kits, power cords and cabling are uninstalled… The list goes on.

Once everything's been cleared out, it can be refurbished, sold on to other businesses and redeployed. As with repurposing the building itself, this is an environmentally friendly way to proceed.

The wiping of data is essential – not only for the security of you and your customers but also for your bank balance. Failure to protect data is a crime punishable by a fine.

To take a high-profile example, investment bank Morgan Stanley was fined $35 million for failing to protect customer data. It sold on decommissioned servers and hard drives that hadn't been completely wiped – and some of them wound up in online auctions still holding customer information.

Another alternative is to build a hybrid cloud environment – downsizing the facility so your workloads are split between the on-premise data centre and the cloud. If you remove only some of the equipment, you can still rent out the available space to other businesses.

Finally, you can keep your old servers and use them for disaster recovery. This is another sustainable option as it means you're not chucking any valuable equipment into the skip.

If you do go down the route of reusing older hardware as a backup system, you need to wipe everything – and that means everything. Any remnants of your company data can be traced back by hackers, compromising your security posture.

The way things are going, most private data centres will eventually be downsized or decommissioned as enterprises pursue a cloud-first policy. So if it's something you're considering, bear in mind that you don't need to throw valuable equipment away – nor do you have to leave the old facility empty.

Repurposing your private data centre after cloud migration is a way to maximise your earning potential and pursue an environmentally friendly course of action. Win-win! You just need to choose your weapon.

At Ascend Cloud Solutions, we specialise in lift-and-shift cloud migrations and have completed over 400 and counting. If you're looking for managed cloud migration services then please don't hesitate to get in touch.