Do you bet your business on your data center?

Do you bet your business on your information technology and your data center? Does an outage in your computer systems seriously impact the way you do business?

The answer is yes for many companies. Data center outages can mean lost revenues, lost profits, and lost clients. These outages, also known as data center downtime, can disrupt the way service companies deliver their services. Outages can stop a manufacturer from outputting finished product. Downtime means that e-commerce businesses can’t sell goods.

Managing data center uptime is a game of risk management. And the cost of data center downtime for your business is the key factor to determine what you should do. If the cost of downtime is high, it makes sense to employ multiple measures to reduce risks of downtime. Even if the cost of downtime is low, you need to give consideration to the risks of an extended outage, and what you might do to protect the business.

One of the easiest ways to reduce the risk of downtime is to use wholesale data center facilities for your primary computer room. Wholesale data centers, also known as wholesale colocation and outsource data centers, provide hardened buildings, highly reliable power and cooling, and access to multiple telecommunications providers. Many companies have reduced power, cooling and telecom downtime to zero simply by moving into a wholesale data center.

How easy is it to move? It depends on the size and complexity of your primary data center. Technologies like virtualization and SAN have made it much easier. Moving to an outsource data center can be the last move your data center makes.

What about costs? As with most projects, there are ways to keep the costs down. Affordable colocation does exist. Look for owner-operated facilities with plenty of experience. These data centers tend to manage costs better than the large corporations. Midwest colocation provides low cost of power. Look for a simple data center pricing model that lets you pay as you grow. A few outsource data centers offer multiple telecom companies with no cross connect fees. All of these factors can significantly impact the affordability of outsource data centers.

Is your cost of downtime high? Does your business need better data center uptime? Talk to Midwest colocation provider Lifeline Data Centers at 317.423.2591.

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.