To Own or to Lease – The Question for Data Center Operations

Since in-house data centers are driving higher capital investments and an ever-growing power bill, CFOs and financial executives are monitoring data center strategies even more closely. The idea is to ensure that sensible decisions are taken around a company’s data center activities and to have maximum efficiency while reducing costs. But the fact is that data center construction and design decisions do not only pertain to total capital expenditure, but also have an impact on the long-term operational costs and energy efficiency of the data center.

Many CFOs have opted to lease the primary or secondary data center. Cost savings, scalability, reduced operational headaches, and flexibility are the common reasons. With evolving IT infrastructure, outsourcing options are many, offering cloud computing services (private, public, IaaS or PaaS), data center colocation, and wholesale data center services. Here are some specifics on what is driving companies to Lifeline Data Centers, a wholesale and retail Midwest colocation facility located in Indianapolis.

Network connectivity

Any data center decision has network connectivity associated with it. When deciding to build a data center, you need to do serious research on the location, keeping in mind carrier build-in costs and their capacity for current and future business requirements. However, if you opt for data center colocation or wholesale data center services, you’ll have access to a wide mix of carriers.

Staffing

Colocation or wholesale data center services will have staff support 24*7, 365 days a year. By contrast, owning a data center gives you full helps you have control on all site aspects, but at the cost of highly trained and skilled staff to maintain things like power, cooling, airflow, fire suppression, and compliance certifications.

Cost

A lower monthly operating cost is the primary reason companies are choosing Lifeline. But you have to do the math. Most clients who require high levels of data center uptime find that colocation reduces their costs over time.

Interested in doing the math for your organization? Call Lifeline.

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.