How to Analyze and pick a Colocation Data Center or Managed Hosting Company

Many Organizations struggle with the decision of using a Data Center without support staff,
a Data Center facility with various degrees of technical support including remote hands,
application and hardware support, or using a Hosting Company that handles everything
including hardware.

There are many pros and cons depending on many factors including:

Location:
The Data Center location is very important. To minimize cost, many organizations have chosen
Data Centers located near your offices so their personnel can support it. In small and mid sized Cities
you might have much of a choice. In larger Cities you must consider what part of town you choose
for your Data Center. In Cities like Los Angeles, New York City, or Houston it could take your technical
staff one to two hours to get to the other side of town.

Your choice of City also depends on the available of providers, amount of power outages,
Weather (tornadoes, hurricanes, flooding), and technical resources. Several Companies located their
Backup applications in a different town in most cases out of state. In states the size of Texas or California
You might have a facility in Dallas and Houston, or Los Angeles and Sacramento. This is true for both
Managed Hosting and Data Center Facilities.

Companies:
There are large and small Data Center and Hosting Companies. The Hosting or Data Center Companies
differ in many respects. The size of the Company including Technical support are important because you
do not want to rely on one or two individuals for your important applications.

Technical Staff:
If you use a Managed Hosting Company you do not have to worry about equipment, bandwidth, or
Technical resources because they provide the whole enchilada.
If you use a Data Center or what is commonly known as a Colocation Company their technical staff,
Certifications, and specific expertise with various manufacturers’ hardware, and applications is vitally important.

Equipment Costs:
The cost of equipment including but not including Servers, Blade Servers, Routers, Switches, and Monitors
can cost several thousands of dollars per month to lease or to buy. With the ever changing technologies
many have found leasing their equipment is more cost effective, reduce maintenance issues, and promotes
upgrading equipment when available.

Service Level Agreements:
SLA or Service Level Agreement vary also and in most cases are worth the paper they are written on. Receiving
a few hundred dollars or even thousands or dollars when your downtime could have cost your Company hundreds
of thousands of dollars.

Environments:
Data Center and Hosting Facilities environments should include a minimum of 2X for each including :

Power ( levels of redundancy):
Dual Access to separate power grids insuring there are no terrestrial connections including
In the primary redundancy. Battery Backup, Power Search protection, Generator power for at least 72 hours with multiple trucking
Companies supplying the diesel.

HVAC or Air Conditioning Systems:
Keeping your servers, cabinets, and cages cool is a must. A redundant over subscribed
HVAC system is a must.

Water:
Many providers forget about water but their HVAC systems and some fire suppression systems use water.

Fire Suppression:
Specific area suppression is required. You do not want the whole floor wet because of one server
on the other side of the data center heat up.

Office Space:
In an emergency or natural disaster having a data center that has a cubical, desk, or even workstations available for
your use could be priceless.

Bandwidth:
All Data Centers have various Carriers (ATT, Verizon,Abovenet, Internap, XO, Level(3), Cogent, etc.) build into
Their facility. They generally connect in part of the facility called the Meet-Me room. Access to multiple Internet,
and fiber providers with separate connections leaving the facility will reduce the changes of downtime due
to backhoe or other issues.

Cost:
I put cost last because many people lose their objectivity when they see how much various Organizations
Charge for their services as opposed to how much will it cost our Company if this application, or backup system
Is down. It could be thousands of dollars per minute and could cost someone’s job if there is down time.

Sincerely,

Jim (JR) Regan
Colocation Consultant
713-443-5911