top 10 reasons for colocation

TOP 10 BEST REASONSFOR COLOCATION

IT infrastructure colocation is one of

those few things in life where you have

to ask yourself, “Why wouldn’t I want

this?” Colocation can unburden you

from some of the routine and resource-

sapping chores that come with the

care and feeding of running your own

data center. For that reason alone,

you’d assume it must be expensive.

It’s not. Quite the contrary because a

top-notch colocation facility enjoys big-

time economies of scale that you could

never hope to realize on your own.

And in all likelihood, its services will

be more complete and more secure,

and will deliver better availability and

performance from your systems. Here

are the top 10 reasons why this is true.

INTRO

pg. 01

01 FISCALLYRESPONSIBLE

04 BACK-UP POWER

05 UPTIME RELIABILITY

06 ON-STAFF SKILLS

07 REGULATORYCOMPLIANCE

09 QUALITY OF SERVICE

10 DISASTERRECOVERY

03 NETWORK SPEED& RELIABILITY

02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

Colocation is a CapEx free alternative

to maintaining your own data center.

Rather than invest capital in backup

generators, uninterruptible power

supplies (UPS) and HVAC units and

network, and without the operating

expenses in training data center staff

with the right skill sets, colocation

lets you leverage a multi-tenant data

center that already has made the

investment in the infrastructure and

personnel. You have access to the

best facilities available for a fixed

monthly fee.

“YOU HAVE ACCESS TO THE BEST FACILITIES AVAILABLE FOR A FIXED MONTHLY FEE.

pg. 02


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

You can access your equipment any

time night or day in a colocation

facility, as long as you have the right

credentials to pass security. Sites

are staffed and monitored 24/7 by

trained professionals and backed by

video surveillance, biometric scanners,

PIN-based card access and locked

cages surrounding your gear. No one

gets in or out without proof of identity,

and every visitor is checked against

customer-defined access lists.

“...EVERY VISITOR IS CHECKED AGAINST CUSTOMER-DEFINED ACCESS LISTS.

pg. 03


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

Most companies usually get just enough Internet bandwidth to satisfy current needs, with maybe a bit of overhead and perhaps even a secondary ISP. Leading colocation facilities have redundant Internet networks and different Internet

backbones coming into their facilities. Service upgrades take minutes to implement. This level of redundancy, bandwidth and availability makes for much more speed and reliability than is available or even feasible at most office locations.

“MOST COMPANIES USUALLY GET JUST ENOUGH INTERNET BANDWIDTH TO SATISFY CURRENT NEEDS...

pg. 04


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

Power outages are a common occurrence in all geographies. Your building or office complex may have back-up power already, such as a generator capable of providing some power for a two- to four-hour period. Colocation back-up systems are the type

with highly redundant power distribution systems including UPS and generators to back up commercial power. The best among colocation providers have iron-clad contracts for fuel deliveries during the most challenging of times. Your servers never had it so good.

“THE BEST AMONG COLOCATION PROVIDERS HAVE IRON-CLAD CONTRACTS FOR FUEL DELIVERIES DURING THE MOST CHALLENGING OF TIMES.

pg. 05


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

Everything is redundant in a colocation facility: air conditioning, UPS, power generators, utility power, network routers, Internet backbones with plenty of extra capacity and even technical staff resources. If

anything goes down, the redundant system is in place and ready to take over without your servers and network equipment ever noticing, leaving you to sleep peacefully through the night.

“IF ANYTHING GOES DOWN, THE REDUNDANT SYSTEM IS IN PLACE AND READY TO TAKE OVER...

pg. 06


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

Quality colocation operators, especially those that also offer cloud computing and storage services, invest in people with hardware, software, networking, security and compliance skills sets that are top-

notch. They operate and maintain a state-of-the-art infrastructure so that you don’t have to do so. The colocation provider can also be your on-site technical team to help solve a specific problem.

“THE COLOCATION PROVIDER CAN ALSO BE YOUR ON-SITE TECHNICAL TEAM TO HELP SOLVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM.

pg. 07


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITYNothing says reliable like a data center operator that commits to, invests in and maintains regulatory-compliant computing infrastructure. An SSAE 16-audited data center can help you meet the requirements of regulatory compliance acts such

as Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX), HIPAA/HITECH, PCI DSS and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLBA). Beyond that, some providers actually provide IT infrastructure and cloud environments that are PCI-DSS and HIPAA compliant and audit ready.

“AN SSAE 16-AUDITED DATA CENTER CAN HELP YOU MEET THE REQUIREMENTS OF REGULATORY COMPLIANCE ACTS...

pg. 08


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

With proper planning, a quality colocation services provider can have your business up and running in a matter of hours. As your business grows, the infrastructure is already in place to accommodate your needs for more rack or floor

space, additional bandwidth, faster connection speeds, etc. As your comfort increases with your supplier, it’s good to have one capable of providing additional managed services such as application support, or storage and cloud services.

“...A QUALITY COLOCATION SERVICES PROVIDER CAN HAVE YOUR BUSINESS UP AND RUNNING IN A MATTER OF HOURS.

pg. 09


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

When most people think of Quality of Service (QoS), service level agreements and uptime commitments come to mind. Both are critically important and should be clearly understood and agreed to in advance (at least 99.99 percent is what you should expect). Beyond

the numbers is quality of customer service. If the colocation provider does not treat you like it’s a privilege having you as a customer in the facility and acts more like a landlord collecting rent from a tenant, then move on. You are getting short changed.

“WHEN MOST PEOPLE THINK OF QUALITY OF SERVICE (QOS), SERVICE LEVEL AGREEMENTS AND UPTIME COMMITMENTS COME TO MIND.

pg. 10


04 BACK-UP POWER


06 ON-STAFF SKILLS



10 DISASTERRECOVERY


02 SECURITY

08 FLEXIBILITY

Consider using a data center as a disaster recovery location. Or, use it as the primary location for your data and your office for backups and recovery. Just make sure you choose a data center in the right

location. You want it to be close enough in case you need to be there on site. However, you also want it to be a safe distance away in the event a disaster strikes your primary business location.

“HOWEVER, YOU ALSO WANT IT TO BE A SAFE DISTANCE AWAY IN THE EVENT A DISASTER STRIKES YOUR PRIMARY BUSINESS LOCATION.

pg. 11

ARE YOU READY TO TAKE THE NEXT STEP TO OUTSOURCE YOUR IT?

CALL 866-473-2510 TO TALK TO A SOLUTIONSENGINEER OR VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT PEAK10.COM

top 10 reasons for colocation

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