Today’s Data Center
With the ever changing needs of business infrastructure, many companies trust in data centers to play a critical role in meeting their IT requirements.
Data centers are more than just a secure facility with space, power, and network. They are becoming a valuable extension to many businesses, offering additional products and services that will benefit a company and be an extension to a current IT staff. So choosing the right data center can mean significant savings in the long run.
How can better connectivity help my business?
With rapidly growing demand for connectivity/bandwidth, having the ability to strengthen and expand avenues for growth, can be a valuable asset to a company. So choosing the right data center with multiple transit providers is critical. This will allow for more optimal routing to your clients or end users and improve reliability and reach to a more expansive client base.
How secure is your data?
Another factor determining the ideal datacenter is security. In today’s world, protecting your data is of the utmost importance. While we would like to think locking servers in a closet is sufficient, there are other aspects to consider. Most businesses are not open and staffed 24/7, so around the clock physical security is one area a datacenter can help. When visiting data centers for a tour, you will likely notice that entry is restricted and access to the different areas of the facility will be limited only to authorized personnel and visitors. In addition, with data center operations staff presence 24/7 and video surveillance you can sleep a little better at night knowing your machines are safe. You probably want to avoid any provider that doesn’t have this level of security in place. Look for information regarding security audits like SSAE-16 SOC 1 and SOC 2 and HIPAA compliance.
How does downtime affect your business?
The right security and network is a good foundation for data center operations but if the service is down due to power issues, your business and reputation can be damaged greatly. So many companies today seek both A + B power feeds to supply redundancy and avoid downtime related to power. Other safeguards such as battery backup and onsite generators are also commonplace in today’s datacenter. When evaluating options, be sure to request uptime statistics and understand the power infrastructure and protocol for failover.
What information should be discussed?
When prospecting providers, start by telling them about your business and help them understand your current and future goals. A consultant should know the right questions to ask in order to determine how best to meet your needs and whether they are a good fit. Pay specific attention to future expectations so that you can plan and grow accordingly. A lot of time and money can be saved by having a plan and being prepared for what lies ahead. Very few things can stall business production like a major transition of infrastructure in a production environment.
Flexible Product Offerings
As your business needs change and shift, you will need a data center who is flexible and can offer custom/hybrid solutions. It’s not uncommon for companies to use several different environments to run their business. Data center operations who offer colocation as well as dedicated servers and custom cloud solutions are a great choice for most businesses. They can custom tailor solutions and accommodate the client who wants a dedicated server for production, colocation for backup and a private cloud for their development.
At Hivelocity, we take pride in many parts of our business especially our 99.999% uptime proven track record and our ever growing network. Contact us today and our consultants will assist in finding the right solution that is ideal for your company.
2 thoughts on “How To Choose the Right Data Center For Your Business”
I hadn’t thought of the security of a data center before, so I am glad that you mentioned it. It will be an important factor when I am choosing the right data center for my small business. I am looking for one that could store all of our financial, and client data, so it will be important for it to be kept private. When we are looking for one, I will be sure to take the security of the data into heavy consideration.
Thank you for this thoughtful post. Many new businesses have to go through this stage of finding the right Data Center for their enterprise. These factors you have shared will help the business owners evaluate clearly. Nice post!