For a decade, data centre security was described in terms of the perimeter: fences, bollards, the guard house. Customers now start their audit somewhere else entirely — at the cabinet — and work backwards.
Six layers, one policy
The modern expectation is a different authentication factor at each layer: perimeter, building, lobby, mantrap, hall, cabinet. What breaks is rarely the technology at any single layer. It is that six layers are usually six systems, with six administrators and no reconciliation.
Evidence is the product
Access reporting has quietly become a commercial asset. Operators who can hand a tenant a per-cabinet report on demand close deals faster than operators who need a week to assemble one.
What to change first
Consolidate the policy engine before buying new hardware. Most estates already have adequate readers; what they lack is one place where the rule is written and one log that can be trusted.
