IT infrastructure colocation is one of those few things in life where you have to ask yourself, “Why wouldn’t I want this?” Colocation can unburden you from some of the routine and resource-sapping chores that come with the care and feeding of running your own data center. For that reason alone, you’d assume it must be expensive.
It’s not. Quite the contrary because a top-notch colocation facility enjoys big-time economies of scale that you could never hope to realize on your own. And in all likelihood, its services will be more complete and more secure, and will deliver better availability and performance from your systems. Here are the top 10 reasons why this is true.
INTRO
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
Colocation is a CapEx free alternative to maintaining your own data center. Rather than invest capital in backup generators, uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and HVAC units and network, and without the operating expenses in training data center staff
with the right skill sets, colocation lets you leverage a multi-tenant data center that already has made the investment in the infrastructure and personnel. You have access to the best facilities available for a fixed monthly fee.
“
YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE BEST
FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR A FIXED
MONTHLY FEE.
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
You can access your equipment any time night or day in a colocation facility, as long as you have the right credentials to pass security. Sites are staffed and monitored 24/7 by trained professionals and backed by
video surveillance, biometric scanners, PIN-based card access and locked cages surrounding your gear. No one gets in or out without proof of identity, and every visitor is checked against customer-defined access lists.
“
...EVERY VISITOR IS CHECKED
AGAINST CUSTOMER-DEFINED
ACCESS LISTS.
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
Most companies usually get just enough Internet bandwidth to satisfy current needs, with maybe a bit of overhead and perhaps even a secondary ISP. Leading colocation facilities have redundant Internet networks and different Internet
backbones coming into their facilities. Service upgrades take minutes to implement. This level of redundancy, bandwidth and availability makes for much more speed and reliability than is available or even feasible at most office locations.
“
MOST COMPANIES USUALLY GET
JUST ENOUGH INTERNET BANDWIDTH
TO SATISFY CURRENT NEEDS...
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
Power outages are a common occurrence in all geographies. Your building or office complex may have back-up power already, such as a generator capable of providing some power for a two- to four-hour period. Colocation back-up systems are the type
with highly redundant power distribution systems including UPS and generators to back up commercial power. The best among colocation providers have iron-clad contracts for fuel deliveries during the most challenging of times. Your servers never had it so good.
“
THE BEST AMONG COLOCATION
PROVIDERS HAVE IRON-CLAD
CONTRACTS FOR FUEL DELIVERIES
DURING THE MOST CHALLENGING
OF TIMES.
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
Everything is redundant in a
colocation facility: air conditioning, UPS, power generators, utility power, network routers, Internet backbones with plenty of extra capacity and even technical staff resources. If
anything goes down, the redundant system is in place and ready to take over without your servers and network equipment ever noticing, leaving you to sleep peacefully through the night.
“
IF ANYTHING GOES DOWN, THE
REDUNDANT SYSTEM IS IN PLACE
AND READY TO TAKE OVER...
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
Quality colocation operators,
especially those that also offer cloud computing and storage services, invest in people with hardware, software, networking, security and compliance skills sets that are
top-notch. They operate and maintain a state-of-the-art infrastructure so that you don’t have to do so. The colocation provider can also be your on-site technical team to help solve a specific problem.
“
THE COLOCATION PROVIDER
CAN ALSO BE YOUR ON-SITE
TECHNICAL TEAM TO HELP
SOLVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM.
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
Nothing says reliable like a dataFLEXIBILITY
center operator that commits to, invests in and maintains regulatory-compliant computing infrastructure. An SSAE 16-audited data center can help you meet the requirements of regulatory compliance acts such
as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), HIPAA/ HITECH, PCI DSS and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLBA). Beyond that, some providers actually provide IT infrastructure and cloud environments that are PCI-DSS and HIPAA
compliant and audit ready.
“
AN SSAE 16-AUDITED DATA
CENTER CAN HELP YOU MEET THE
REQUIREMENTS OF REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE ACTS...
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
With proper planning, a quality colocation services provider can have your business up and running in a matter of hours. As your
business grows, the infrastructure is already in place to accommodate your needs for more rack or floor
space, additional bandwidth, faster connection speeds, etc. As your comfort increases with your supplier, it’s good to have one capable of providing additional managed services such as application support, or storage and cloud services.
“
...A QUALITY COLOCATION
SERVICES PROVIDER CAN HAVE
YOUR BUSINESS UP AND RUNNING
IN A MATTER OF HOURS.
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
When most people think of Quality of Service (QoS), service level
agreements and uptime commitments come to mind. Both are critically important and should be clearly understood and agreed to in advance (at least 99.99 percent is what you should expect). Beyond
the numbers is quality of customer service. If the colocation provider does not treat you like it’s a
privilege having you as a customer in the facility and acts more like a landlord collecting rent from a tenant, then move on. You are getting short changed.
“
WHEN MOST PEOPLE THINK OF
QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS), SERVICE
LEVEL AGREEMENTS AND UPTIME
COMMITMENTS COME TO MIND.
01
FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04
BACK-UP
POWER
05
UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06
ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07
REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09
QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10
DISASTER
RECOVERY
03
NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02
SECURITY
08
FLEXIBILITY
Consider using a data center as a disaster recovery location. Or, use it as the primary location for your data and your office for backups and recovery. Just make sure you choose a data center in the right
location. You want it to be close enough in case you need to be there on site. However, you also want it to be a safe distance away in the event a disaster strikes your primary business location.
