Just because colocation is the preferred solution for many industries and use cases doesn’t mean that all colocation service providers are created equal, or that the solution will be a slam dunk no matter what. Colocation (colo) is not a commodity. Selecting a data center provider should be a long-term partnership based on many factors such as customer service, value-add services, and financial stability, to name a few. Additionally, today’s requirements are more complex with higher densities and flexible solutions. Understanding your environment and needs is critical to a successful colo deployment.
Here is as series of questions you should ask yourself and prospective providers to help you plan for a colocation initiative and make vendor selection easier and more in-line with your true needs.
While some moves to colocation are driven by an acute need, some organizations can pre-plan for the transition as part of their corporate roadmap. If there’s no immediate need to transition to colocation (like outrageous cloud expenses driven by scaling, or difficulty staying current with compliance requirements within a private data center), it’s convenient to align migrations with an equipment refresh. Instead of moving existing equipment that only has one year of life left, or underutilizing CAPEX that has already been spent, plan your data center move at the same time you are purchasing new equipment. Why pay someone to move existing equipment when you can ship new gear directly from the vendor to the new data center? (Just make sure all the contracts are signed before you ship it or risk the equipment being rejected by the data center provider!)
Before engaging with potential solution providers, it’s important that your team (and organization as a whole) have a clear internal understanding of needs, expectations, and driving factors. This will help you verify that colocation is the correct solution and help you clearly articulate your needs to the providers you engage. After all, moving to a colo solution provider is a business decision that should enable your company to do more!
Some things to consider and discuss during this planning phase include:
Documenting the answers to the questions you discuss during this phase is important. This will help everyone within your organization be on the same page regarding needs and expectations. It will also come in handy when it’s time to vet potential solution providers.
Understanding your current and future technical requirements is just as important when working with a colo provider as it would be if you were building (or refreshing) an in-house solution. Not only will it lead to a more accurate solution from the colocation provider, but clearly communicating accurate requirements will help potential providers meet your future needs as your business demands scale (or change entirely).
Before vetting solutions, document specs such as:
If you’re not 100% clear on all your specs, that’s OK. Having a general understanding is a good starting place and a Sales Engineer at your chosen provider can help you more fully define and plan your transition and new solution. We’re trained to craft solutions within this space, so we may anticipate some specs or requirements that you didn’t foresee. Together, we can plan your ideal environment.
Once you understand your needs and tech specs, it’s time to start talking to potential colocation solution providers. Once you’ve established that a certain provider can meet your basic needs, you’ll want to consider deeper elements of their service offerings.
Be sure to discuss these elements with any provider prior to signing a contract:
Considering the questions above will put you into the best position possible for a smooth, successful transition to colocation. These questions and reflection exercises will also help ensure you find a provider that you’ll be happy with for years to come. Colo is a great option for many use cases and industries, now it’s just down to finding the right service provider for you.