Is it Time to Move or Colocate your Data Center? PTS' Relocation Services Can Help

So you've made the decision to relocate your data center operations to a new facility. Perhaps you are moving the operations to a data center colocation facility because it was going to be too expensive to upgrade your in-house data center facility, or perhaps your organization prefers an operational expense financial model over spending capital expenditures (cash) today. Or maybe your company is simply relocating its corporate headquarters, including the computer room.

Regardless, you will have a lot of work ahead of you, and PTS’ data center experts can help. PTS’ Relocation Services provide comprehensive site selection, planning, project management, and implementation services for clients in need of data center or computer room migration, whether due to business changes, growth, changes in IT needs or requirements, business relocation, or other strategic business reasons.

 

Learn more about PTS' Relocation Services for your data center,

computer room, or other mission-critical facility here:

http://www.ptsdcs.com/data-center-relocation.asp

Top 10 Ways Colocation Can Impact Your Business

For most primary data center or computer room operations, PTS Data Center Solutions contends that owning and operating your own data center offers the best opportunity for long-term ROI, flexibility, and OPEX cost control. However, owning your own facility comes with a CAPEX premium - and that is sometimes not an option. To that end, it may be worth considering a colocation company to support your data center infrastructure requirements. 

Here are our Top 10 reasons to consider a colocation:

1. Reliability. Have you checked your tier rating lately? The Uptime Institute's tier rating system provides higher ratings for facilities which have several levels of redundancy for power, cooling, etc. The costs are significant for a company to build many levels of redundancy throughout its data center or computer room (i.e. design costs, procurement of equipment and services, management costs).
2. Flexibility. Are your typical power requirements at 2.5 KW per rack? Needing a facility capable of supporting blade servers with 10 KW per rack requirements? Consider a colocation specializing in high per rack power requirements. They'll also have the appropriate cooling systems in place.
3. Speed to Deploy. Did management forget to tell you early about a new acquisition and the need to add disparate IT solutions in your data center? Colocation providers typically have ample availability, ready for IT build-outs, at a moment's notice. Sure, you won't be in tomorrow, but a few weeks will do.
4. Security. There's a cost of doing business for colocations in terms of physical and network security. Services include providing protection from theft and fire, but also may include well conceived network security designs. And, if needed, you can look for a facility with 7x24 security.
5. Facility Size. Tired of the endless guessing games related to sizing a facility? Colocations can actually save an organization money because it doesn't have to over-size power, space, and cooling in the facility.  
6. Maintenance. Too many assets to maintain between servers, storage, UPS, cooling, switching, etc.? Think of the time you would save not having to worry about supporting infrastructure and being able to concentrate on keeping the IT infrastructure up-to-date.  
7. Capital Budgetary Constraints. Waiting for your CAPEX budget to be released? What if you can forget about the capital to expand or build a new facility? Colocation monthly fees fall into the operating expense or OPEX category.  
8. Network Management & Monitoring. Is your facility manned 7x24? Many colocation facilities have around-the-clock network operations personnel ready and waiting for a failure. Sure beats yanking the IT manager out of bed. 
9. WAN Connectivity. What happens when the network goes down? Colocation providers have facilities from more than one network services provider and, because of the volume of services, can provide truly separate infrastructures.
10. Offsite Backup & Disaster Recovery. Still taking tapes offsite? Worried about the financial impact of a data center down condition? How about the peace of mind knowing you stored your critical data offsite at a colocation specializing in backup and disaster recovery?  

All these reasons should be considered when looking at colocation or, for that matter, cloud services. If you are looking for expert advice and analysis relevant to your particular scenario, consider PTS' Data Center Facility Business Strategy Consulting Services. The service analyzes your situation, evaluates potential risks, hidden costs, and other items which can affect making the right decision.

The Pros and Cons of Data Center Colocation

Data center colocation plays a strategic role in modern IT operations. For many companies, it presents an attractive alternative to building and maintaining a sizeable data center.

Housing servers and network equipment off-site does offer companies a number of benefits, but the picture isn’t as simple as black and white. Before you commit to colocation, here are a few things to consider:

Data center colocation allows you to…
- Eliminate the up-front costs associated with building your own data center,
- Deploy IT infrastructure based on your company’s current network requirements with less impact to your budget, and
- Relocate the company without subjecting your network to downtime or other interruptions.

Data center colocation becomes a less attractive option when…
- The overall space and load requirements are substantial,
- Your data center requires intensive management, and
- Physical security is a major concern for your company.

Data center colocation providers can charge based on a number of requirements, including total physical space, amount of bandwidth, amount of UPS protection, quantity and type of power distribution, and the degree of physical security needed. That’s in addition to the cost of other managed services that take the place of your in-house staffing and tools. It’s easy to see how the costs can add up if your data center is high-maintenance in one or more of these areas.

Colocation is not a one-size-fits-all solution for data centers. Much like choosing between buying your own house versus renting an apartment, the decision to maintain your own data center or hire a colocation provider should be weighed based on your company’s present and future needs. Companies often benefit from colocation in the short term, but the option to house servers and network equipment off-site needs to be evaluated based on your big picture.