Category Archive for : ‘Reliability’

Many companies use the Uptime Institute tiering system when planning to build or lease enterprise data center space. Companies ask vendors if they are a tier III or higher data center. What these companies are often concerned with is the uptime level they can expect from the vendor. If you consider data centers with 4 1/2 9’s (99.995% uptime), you’re getting 36 minutes of downtime per year or less for your production systems or your disaster recovery center. If your using an outsource data center that is a 99.995% uptime

Right now we are in discussions with a client about using our outsource data center first as an addition to their enterprise data center, then as a disaster recovery colocation.

The company is experiencing chronic problems with their in-house enterprise data center.  Downtime has been a problem because they are at the top end of their capacity for both power and cooling.  The slightest problem can shut down a significant portion of their systems for hours.  In one case, they had multiple days of downtime with a few of their critical

Midwest colocation (outsource data center) is one of the simplest ways companies can drive more uptime from their critical systems, while at the same time reducing data center costs.

One of our newest customers was tired of the chronic power outages in their office space.  They did not want to install a generator, because it was too expensive and because their landlord would not allow it.  The outages were causing downtime to their customer-facing systems, and it was affecting credibility.

After talking to them about their needs, they moved their critical systems

Is your company moving?  Leasing or buying new office space impacts the business in several ways.  One of the decisions a company must make is the decision whether to build a new enterprise data center or outsource data center facilities.

The impact of critical computer system downtime to your business is the major factor in your decision to build or outsource.  If the cost of downtime is high, you will need to build a tier III or higher rated data center to avoid downtime.  The capital costs associated with building a hardened

The top two issues companies talk to us about with regards to outsource data centers are uptime and cost.  Yes, carrier neutral data centers, compliance, and hardened data center facilties are part of the decision, but companies are going to a data center to improve or maintain critical computer system uptime, and cost is always a decision point.

So what role does raised floor play in uptime?  None.  It’s a design consideration that is a holdover from the 1960s when equipment was cooled from the bottom up.  ASHRAE professionals are acknowledging

One of our most recent clients chose to move their critical production computer systems to Lifeline’s outsource data center because of their new office location.  They recently moved the main office to a brand new office park, and the power has been extremely unreliable.  In January, they had been told by the power company that power would be shut down for four hours on two different Sundays.  The client operates a business in which their employees access their critical systems 24/7, so the idea of two four hour outages was

If your company is considering the use of a colocation facility, you have dozens of choices.  Midwest colocation has become very popular because of a few factors:

the Midwest is less prone to natural disasters
power costs are low compared to the coasts
the central location offers fiber density and therefore telecom choices

Many companies consider Chicago colocation because of easy travel access and telecom density.  Yet Chicago colocation prices are almost always higher than similar data center facilities within a few hours.

What are your true requirements?  If you’re using colocation for your enterprise

The Rated-4 data center classification is the gold standard of computer room facilities.  The Uptime Institute defines a number of criteria that enterprise data centers and colocation facilities must meet in order to achieve Rated-4 status.

The biggest difference between tier III and higher rated centers is uptime levels: Rated-4 data centers provide 99.995% uptime, commonly referred to as 4 1/2 9’s.  This is accomplished through a hardened data center facility with multiple redundant systems that not only back each other up, but allow for concurrent maintainability.  In another post, I