Can affordable colocation deliver 99.995% data center uptime?

Can affordable colocation deliver 99.995% uptime? Does it make financial sense for you to move either your enterprise data center or your disaster recovery center to a colocation facility? And can the result of that move to colocation improve your uptime?

The answer is: do the math. You need to do the research necessary to determine if moving to an outsourced data center can be both affordable and deliver high uptime.

First, consider the uptime in your current data center. How many power feeds come into your building from the utility? How many generators support it? How many UPS systems? How many air conditioning systems? How many telecommunications providers and feeds come into the building? If any of these answers is less than two, you have the ability to improve your uptime by moving to a colocation facility, also known as an outsourced data center.

Second, consider the costs of operating your existing data center. Include real estate costs and labor costs. And remember to include power costs. If your computer room is in-house, your data center power costs may not be easy to determine. Remember, for every kW of power used to run your IT equipment, another kW of power is required for the air conditioning to cool the IT equipment. In-house power costs may be higher than you think.

How can you make sure that the colocation provider you’re considering can deliver 99.995% uptime? You can ask them, or you can check for yourself to make sure they have at least two power feeds, generators, UPS, HVAC and telecom entrances. F5 tornado resistant data centers are important in Midwest colocation providers. Hardened data center facilities should be one of your requirements.

How can you identify affordable colocation facilities? Compare a few data centers by getting apples-to-apples pricing. You’ll find out how they like to do business by examining their pricing model. A simple data center pricing model is usually a good sign. A good data center pricing model allows for incremental growth and change.

A few wholesale colocation providers price power based on usage, and not on the circuit size or the maximum potential load. This pay-as-you-use-it model is a more predictable and practical approach; it’s just like how you would pay for data center power at your in-house data center. Paying for power as you use it almost always results in savings over time.

Avoid monthly cross connect fees to the telecom providers if possible. Some colocation facilities offer no cross connect fees in a carrier neutral environment. This is another opportunity for significant savings when compared to other outsourced data centers.

Affordable colocation can deliver 99.995% uptime, the same levels as a Rated-4 data center facilities. Need pricing? Contact us.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.