6 Tips to Find the Right Colocation Center for You › ... ›...

6 Tips to Find the Right Colocation Center for You

2 6 Tips to Find the Right Colocation Center for You | wwwainet

Choosing a colocation provider is one of the most important IT decisions you can make for your business Think about it your most valuable technology assets ndash the systems that run your business ndash need to be placed into the most reliable environment to ensure they are always up and running 24 hours a day 365 days a year

Wersquove all read stories about how major systems outages have cost large companies millions of dollars The problem is just as important to small and medium businesses which donrsquot have the enormous resources of Fortune 500 companies but still need to be positive their systems will always be working

You shouldnrsquot keep those systems in-house because it is prohibitively expensive and much less reliable or secure than collocating in a data center But how do you choose the right one

These 6 tips from subject matter experts will get you up to speed on how to evaluate data centers with the same critical eye of industry veterans and help you make the right selection for your data center colocation provider

The first 2 steps you should do before visiting the data center Steps 3 45 and 6 are tips on what to look for once you visit the data center


Before1 Know What Technologies You Are Already UsingThis first step should be easy enough Ask yourself

bull How many racks or cabinets am I currently using bull What is my power usage bull Who is my internet service providerbull What is my DR COOP

These questions are important because it will help you to understand the size of the footprint you will need in a data center and help you later on to compare apples to apples when you are evaluating proposals

Advanced questions bull How many external points of contact (remote locations) does my

business have bull Do I need to be FISMA FedRAMP of HIPAA compliant or any other of

the dozens of compliance and regulatory certifications required to run a business in the digital economy

bull Do I handle personal financial or health recordsbull How secure does my payment storage need to be

DRCOOPA Disaster Recovery

Continuity of Operations Plan is part of a principle called continuity of operations

that helps to ensure trouble-free operations through

unanticipated events


A map is important to any successful journey Why are you collocating Are you simply doing a forklift move into a more redundant and reliable facility or is the move being done because you are trying to transform your IT infrastructure Is this a production facility or a backup site

The idea Align your technology systems with your business to help you to streamline processes add stability or open a new market

Different data centers provide different types of services and are better fits for some clients than others Transformational IT initiatives are better suited to services with a rich portfolio of services within the data center such as hybrid cloud environments or other types of managed services Pure backup sites are better suited to data centers with a high redundancy rating Knowing why yoursquore moving into the data center helps you to know which data center to move into

Great Now yoursquore ready to visit a few data centers and select a provider

2 Know Your Reasons for ColocatingIT Transformation

IT business transformation is a thorough or dramatic

change in the technologies and business processes a

company employs to reach important business goals


Security One of the most immediate benefits of colocation is the improved security posture your business will benefit from in a data center Make sure to ask about visitor and guest check-in procedures and look for tell-tale signs of security such as security cameras digital access control systems and other security features

Redundancy One of the major reasons to collocate your IT resources in a data center is to benefit from the exceptional reliability provided by purpose-built structures However not all data centers make the grade

You need to be asking bull Do they have 2 independent generators bull Do they have two different power feeds coming from 2 different

substations

In the event of an emergency the data center needs to be self-sustaining in regards to power for a minimum of 96 hours Independent generators and multiple utility feeds are best-practice when it comes to redundancy Anything less is insufficient and puts your business at risk

Biometric Pin Keycard fingerprint scanners and Facial Recognition Technology help you evaluate how secure the data center is

No Security Check-in personnel Any data center without on-site personnel managing the visitor check-in process is a no-go

Inside3 Ask Questions about Security and Reliability


The modern data center is more than just a shell providing pipe power and ping There is real value in the services that can be provided within the data center as well At the bare minimum ask to be sure there is 24 hour NOC (Network Operations Center) support that provides a Smart Hands service so that devices can be re-booted quickly and software updates can be done on site

Beyond the levels of support on-site the best data centers will have other technology services on-premises Infrastructure in the form of private and public clouds can provide cost-effective ways for your business to expand for instance

Similarly services such as cyber security and connectivity may be provided either by the data center colocation provider or by service providers within the building that have a formal hands-on partnership with the data center

RedundancyThe duplication of critical components or functions of a system with the intention of increasing reliability of the system usually in the case of a backup or fail-safe

4 Support amp Services

Ask if the NOC supplies spare parts It shows their commitment

to service and client success The fact that theyrsquove got you covered and thought of everything is a good indication of the providerrsquos dedication to customer

Ask how theyrsquore NOC is staffed Do they have engineers on-

site 247 Therersquos a big difference between an engineer on-site and an engineer on-call when you need one


All technology systems regardless of industry will need audit support at some point Donrsquot get stuck later onhellip find out now As your business continues to grow you will need to periodically evaluate your performance to determine what new systems you need to add how secure your client data is and numerous other documentable tasks

The right data center will not only be able to help you with audits and compliance but will have a template for those tasks and will offer to help you achieve the standard your business requires

5 Compliance Past Performance amp Auditability

Acheivment of SSAE-16 (SOC) PCI DSS HIPAA and FISMA These certifications represent the highest levels of standards for financial healthcare and federal institutions

A truly compliant data center will be actively offering to assist with client audits and data centers that are not truly compliant do not address this because they canrsquot help you


Many people think picking the right data center colocation provider is about simply evaluating the physical space of a building They couldnrsquot be more wrong

What you are really looking for is a partner an expert in the field of IT services someone who will be a trusted adviser that can help your business execute on its technology needs and align them with your strategic goals to help you grow

The right partner will offer you flexible offerings cloud integration and the services that are best for you NOT the ones that are best for them They will take the time to understand your needs and your vision and work with you to present solutions that will address them

To learn more about how AiNET helps our clients to maximize the value they realize through their data center technologies reach out to us at 1-888-324-6383

If yoursquore ready to come look at your first data center click here to schedule a tour today

6 Picking the Right Partner



Choosing a colocation provider is one of the most important IT decisions you can make for your business Think about it your most valuable technology assets ndash the systems that run your business ndash need to be placed into the most reliable environment to ensure they are always up and running 24 hours a day 365 days a year

Wersquove all read stories about how major systems outages have cost large companies millions of dollars The problem is just as important to small and medium businesses which donrsquot have the enormous resources of Fortune 500 companies but still need to be positive their systems will always be working

You shouldnrsquot keep those systems in-house because it is prohibitively expensive and much less reliable or secure than collocating in a data center But how do you choose the right one

These 6 tips from subject matter experts will get you up to speed on how to evaluate data centers with the same critical eye of industry veterans and help you make the right selection for your data center colocation provider

The first 2 steps you should do before visiting the data center Steps 3 45 and 6 are tips on what to look for once you visit the data center


























substations






















































substations





























6 Tips to Find the Right Colocation Center for You › ... ›...

Documents

Transcript of 6 Tips to Find the Right Colocation Center for You › ... ›...