Selecting the Right Colocation Provider for Your Business

Nemertes Research predicts “a shortage of colocation space in the U.S. beginning this year, growing to a $1.9 billion facilities gap by 2015.” But the bigger concern is – how do you choose the most appropriate colocation host for your computing environment? Here are a few tips how to select the right colocation provider:

Plan your requirements, including budget

Rather than modifying your business models to suit the data center infrastructure of your colocation vendor, you need to plan how much space and support you are going to need and how much investment you want to make in a data center. Once this is finalized, you need to choose a vendor that best matches your requirement.

Geographical reach

Before choosing a colocation vendor, make sure that the location of the data center facility is within geographically accessible and telecom-affordable bounds. Your staff may need to visit the facility frequently and hence it should be likely be withing a half day’s drive of your business center’s location. Ensure that you understand the geographical risks of the area and that the facility addresses those risks.

Security

Security is always a top priority as you would not want your critical data to fall into the wrong hands. Physical as well as digital security measures should be ensured by the vendor you choose.

What other factors go into your decision when selecting a data center?

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.