When deciding where to colocate there are several important factors to take into account. Here are some of the things you should look at before you decide on a data center.
Building Security
Building security is extremely important. You want to look for a building that offers quality security systems and guards on duty 24/7. Make sure that there are video cameras on all floors, so that anyone visiting the building is covered from the minute they enter to the time they leave again. Only authorized personnel should be allowed access to the facility, and there should be at least two ID checks before entering the data center itself. You should also make sure that there are locks on the actual cabinets or cages where your servers will be stored.
Read about ColoServe’s Secure San Francisco Data Center.
Power System
Ideally, the data center should be connected to two power grids with multiple entry points, but obviously you are only likely to find this in major cities. However, even if the facility is only on one power grid you should make sure that there are multiple entry points. You should also ask about generators and power backup plans. I would highly advise against ever colocating at a data center that doesn’t have its own generator(s). It is simply a must for a data center to have on-site generators and fuel, and a really great one will even have more than one.
Our San Francisco data center power is fed by conditioned UPS electricity, with redundant feeds from dual 2 Megawatt generators. One generator can power the entire building for several days time, and there is 20,000 gallons of reserve diesel fuel on site. These generators are tested monthly, and every third month the power is disconnected from the two utility feeds to ensure proper generator operation.
Network
One of the things to consider is your bandwidth requirements. In order to do that you need to know your current end-users (and the users you hope to reach in the future) in terms of where and how they access the Internet and compare that against the network connectivity and cross-connects afforded by each co-location vendor. The quality of the user’s experience is going to depend on how many hops it takes them to reach your site from their ISP. If it seems as if your users are going to need too many hops getting to and from their ISPs and the data center network, it is best to find another colocation facility; one that can better meet your requirements.
Read about ColoServe’s Screaming-Fast NetworkTM.
Recent Comments