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Choosing A
Colocation Provider
Despite hype, some execs say
'commoditization' is far off
By Rich Miller
ColocationGuide News Staff
Understand Your Hosting Needs
While it may seem obvious, the first step is to analyze your own operation and
determine your needs. Know what you need and what you don't. If you have a defined
budget, decide which criteria are the most important ones on your list and keep
those priorities in mind as you speak with providers.
This analysis is particularly useful when assessing the need for "managed
services" such as data storage, Internet connection security, scalability and
application hosting. Many hosting providers are aggressively marketing these services
as "add-ons" to web hosting and colocation accounts. Be prepared to encounter
these sales pitches, and know when to listen closely and when to say "no thanks"
or "maybe later."
Stay Current on Industry News
Many colocation providers have weathered the recent shakeout in the telecommunications
and "dot-com" sectors in fine shape. Others have been hobbled and are
facing cash crises, and some have already failed or been sold.
"You want to make sure the company you decide to work with will be in
business for a while and not have financial problems down the road that could cause
you problems," said Joseph Suppers, president of Node Com Inc.
Monitoring industry news sites is one way to stay abreast of which providers are
faring well and which ones may be carrying large debt loads. useful sites include
the communications section of News.com,
the IPSite, The Net Economy, Boardwatch and
CarrierHotels.com.
Is the Provider "Carrier-Neutral?"
This can be an important question, according to Suppers. A "carrier-specific"
site either offers a single bandwidth provider, or has a business incentive to direct
customers to a particular carrier.
"Carrier-neutral" facilities offer customers a choice of connectivity.
"One of the things you want to do is make sure you have several alternative
carriers available to provide your Internet connection," said Suppers. "You
want to avoid being obligated to working with one carrier."
Having choices is important for both price and flexibility.
Power
Recent brownouts and blackouts in California
have underscored the need for colocation facilities to have a reliable and redundant
power supply. Obtaining electric service is increasingly expensive for facility
operators, and some maintain more capacity than others. Know as much as you can
about how much energy your equipment will require, and whether the provider can
meet your needs.
Redundancy
Having enough power isn't enough. Your
servers must continue to operate if a facility loses power. Uninterruptible power
supply (UPS) systems featuring battery banks and powerful generators are standard
in most quality data centers. The best facilities will have backups for the backup
equipment in these key areas.
This same approach to redundancy should be applied to other mission-critical systems,
including HVAC and fire suppression systems. Ideally the facility should be equipped
with dual fiber and power feeds into the building. For further information on redundancy
and cost issues, see the article Reliability, risks and facilities costs from Facilities.net.
Survivability
Would your servers stay up and running if an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter
scale hit the neighborhood where the data center resides? As colocation customers
whose equipment is housed in Seattle-area facilities could tell you, this isn't
always an academic exercise. Area colo providers such as Exodus remained online
throughout that city's February temblor.
Ask whether the facility has been engineered to withstand disasters such as earthquakes,
hurricanes, tornadoes and fires.
Physical Security
Finally, educate yourself about the physical security in place at the facility.
Many colocation providers employ biometric tools such as thumb scans or retinal
scans to verify a user's identity. Some have "man-trap" corridors to restrict
access in case intruders who get past the first line of security. Video surveillance
is another important component in a facility security plan.
With such measures in place, be sure you understand which employees will be granted
access to the facility, and in what scenarios an employee of the colocation company
or vendor technician will be allowed to access your equipment.
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Miami, FL
11500 NW 25th Street,
Miami, FL 33172
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Flint, MI
5225 Exchange Drive,
Flint, MI 48507-2935
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