Designing a Data Centre for the Newly Merged University of Manchester: Architecture, scalability, se

As it is known, two UK research-led universities have joined together to become the largest 'super-university' in the country. The University of Manchester, newly named following a merger between the Victoria University of Manchester and the Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST), will educate 34,000 students a year and will have more academic subjects and departments that any other UK university. After the merger, the University of Manchester have decided to centralise its IT operations. As a part of this action, they want to build a Data Centre to centralise University of Manchester’s IT operation andequipment, and where the university can keep and manage the ICT infrastructure. As an expert you are tasked to design a Data Centre to support its day-to-day operations. Write a research report on architecture you would recommend for them with a proper justification. The research should mainly focus on but not limited to design, scalability, security, fault tolerance, performance, and energy usage and management. The report should be of 4000 words and follow IEEE format which can be downloaded from Moodle.

TASKS

NOTE: The guidance offered below is linked to the five generic assessment criteria overleaf.

1. Engagement with Literature Skills

Your work must be informed and supported by scholarly material that is relevant to and focused on the task(s) set; you should make use of scholarly reviews and primarysources, where appropriate (for example, refereedresearch articles and/or original materials appropriate to the discipline). You should provide evidence thatyouhave accessed a wide range of sources, which may be academic, governmental and industrial; thesesources may include academic journal articles, textbooks,current news articles, organisational documents,  and websites. You should consider the credibility of your sources; academic journals are normally highly

credible sources while websites require careful consideration/selection and should be used sparingly. Anysources you use should be current and up-to-date, mostly published within the last five years or so, though seminal/important works in the field may be older. You mustprovide evidence of your research/own reading throughout your work, using a suitable referencing system, including in-text citations in the main body of your work and a reference list at the end of your work.

Guidance specific to this assessment: Your work must focus on given research topic. Your work must include articles published by peer reviewed journals, conference proceedings, books, and related website (e.g. IEEE, ACM, Science direct). Information from website such as EHow, wiki, forums, etc. will not be accepted. Marks will be awarded for:

• The extent of research undertaken into the selected areas
• Selection of credible sources
• Application of appropriate referencing conventions (numerical referencing)

2. Knowledge and Understanding Skills

Designing the Data Centre Architecture

At level 6, you should be able to demonstrate coherent and detailed knowledge and a systematic understanding of the subject area, at least some of which is informed by the latest research and/or advancedscholarship within the discipline. You should be aware of the uncertainty, ambiguity and limits of knowledge.

Your work must demonstrate the growing extent of your knowledge and systematic understanding of concepts and underlying principles associated with the subject area. Knowledge relates to the facts, information and skills you have acquired through your learning. You demonstrate your understanding by interpreting the meaning of the facts and information (knowledge). This means that you need to select and include in your work the concepts, techniques, models, theories, etc. appropriate to the task(s) set. Youshould be able to explain the theories, concepts, etc. meaningfully to show your understanding. Your mark/grade will also depend upon the extent to which youdemonstrate your knowledge and understanding;ideally each should be complete and detailed, with comprehensive coverage.

Guidance specific to this assessment: Your work must demonstrate the basic understanding of concepts and underlying principles. You should explain and analyse the chosen topic in a meaningful way.

3. Cognitive and Intellectual Skills

You should be able to: critically evaluate evidence, arguments, assumptions, abstract concepts and data some of which are at the forefront of a discipline (and that may be incomplete) to devise and sustain arguments, to make judgements and/or solve problems; describe and comment upon particular aspects of current research, or equivalent advanced scholarship, in the discipline Your work must contain evidence of logical, analytical thinking, evaluation and synthesis. For example, to examine and break information down into parts, make inferences, compile, compare and contrast information. This means not just describingwhat! But also justifying: Why? How? When? Who? Where? At what cost?

At all times, you must provide justification for your arguments and judgements. Evidence that you have reflected upon the ideas of others within the subject area is crucial to you providing a reasoned and informed debate within your work. Furthermore, you should provide evidence that you are able to make sound judgements and convincing arguments using data and concepts. Sound, valid conclusions are necessary and must be derived from the content of your work. Where relevant, alternative solutions and recommendations may be proposed.

Guidance specific to this assessment: Your work must demonstrate critical analysis and evaluation of chosen technologies. Your work must also justify your choice and provide evidence that your choice is better than other methods.

Scalability Recommendation

Practical Skills

At level 6, you should be able to apply the methods and techniques that you have learned to review, consolidate, extend and apply your knowledge and understanding, and to initiate and carry out projects. You will deploy accurately established techniques of analysis and enquiry relevant to the discipline, and apply them in complex and unpredictable contexts, to devise and sustain arguments and/or to solve problems. You should be able to frame appropriate questions to achieve a solution - or identify a range of solutions. You should be able to demonstrate how the subject-related concepts and ideas relate to real world situations and/or a particular context. How do they work in practice? You will deploy models, methods, techniques, and/or theories, in that context or circumstances, to assess current situations, perhaps to formulate plans or solutions to solve problems, or to create artefacts, some of which may be innovative and creative. This is likely to involve, for instance, the use of real world artefacts, examples and cases, the application of a model within an organisation and/or benchmarking one theory or organisation against others based on stated criteria. You should show awareness of the limitations of concepts and theories when applied in particular contexts.

Guidance specific to this assessment: You must demonstrate your ability to apply your knowledge into practice.

Transferable Skills for Life and Professional Practice

Your work must provide evidence of the qualities and transferable skills necessary for graduate-level employment requiring the exercise of initiative and personal responsibility and decision-making in complex and unpredictable circumstances. This includes demonstrating: the learning ability for professional development to advance existing skills and acquire new competences of a professional nature that will enable you to assume significant responsibility within organisations; that you can initiate and complete tasks and procedures, whether individually and/or collaboratively; that you can use appropriate media to effectively communicate information, arguments and analysis in a variety of forms to specialist and non-specialist audiences; fluency of expression; clarity and effectiveness in presentation and organisation. Work should be coherent and well-structured in presentation and organisation.

Guidance specific to this assessment: You must submit a report which should be approximately 4000 (+/- 10% will be accepted) words in length.The report should be presented in an academic way (IEEE/ACM format) and therefore must include an abstract, an introduction, a conclusion and a list of references. The report must besubmitted via Turnitin. Marks will be awarded for correct spelling, grammar, punctuation, structure and presentation. There should be some relevant visual appeal in the report.