The Guide to Choosing the Perfect Data Center

One of the most important decisions for an enterprise is choosing a data center that meets their needs. Businesses used to be able to use server closets on-site to get the job done, but times have changed. You need a fast, nonstop operation for system deployment; servers need tender loving care in a data center to prevent downtime.

Unfortunately, not all data centers are created equal. The following guide should steer you the right way in choosing the perfect data center.

Redundancy: Arguably the most important aspect of a data center is keeping your business up and running. What are your redundancy plans? Do you care if your servers go down for an hour, a day, a week? Removing single points of failure is the key. An Uninterruptible Power Supply fed by a generator for short-term power is needed if the other power source fails. Battery backups on everything from routers to switches must also be set up for redundancy.
 

Reliability: Let’s continue talking about uptime. The Uptime Institute classifies data centers into four tiers. The higher the tier level, the greater the expected availability. Here is a breakdown of downtime over a period of one year:

• Tier 1 (99.671% availability) estimated downtime: 1729 minutes or 29 hours
• Tier 2 (99.741% availability) estimated downtime: 1361 minutes or 23 hours
• Tier 3 (99.982% availability) estimated downtime: 95 minutes
• Tier 4 (99.995% availability) estimated downtime: 26 minutes

As you can see, there’s quite a bit of difference between Tier 1-2 and Tier 3-4. HostDime’s mission is to design, build, and operate public Tier 4 data center facilities in emerging markets around the globe. As a rule, we purpose built these data centers to achieve Tier 4 standards. Data centers that have Tier 4 certifications show investors, customers, and the marketplace that the infrastructure has true 24/7 availability.
 

Connectivity: Some data centers are limited to just a few network carriers. Seek out a carrier-neutral facility that grants your enterprise access to global carriers. Both HostDime’s current Orlando facility and upcoming data center facility have been designed to be major peering and connection HUBs for networks in the Southeastern United States and for South American companies. We operate one of Florida’s most robust and redundant networks with close to 100 gigabits of redundant fiber capacity thanks to Tier 1 network providers.
 

Network Infrastructure: Does the data center offer a type of looking glass tool so you can view backbone routing and network efficiency behavior? HostDime provides you with the same transparency that customers on our network directly receive.
 

Location: Over half of mobile site visits are abandoned if the page takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Time is money for your enterprise. You want your server’s physical location as close as possible to your target market. Usually the closer the website visitor is to the web server, the fewer networks the data passes through. Choose a data center that not only has a lot of locations, but allows you to test out each location’s speed. HostDime has data centers and servers at the global edge to ensure visitors receive the fastest response times possible.

Tour the Data Center: Most of the topics discussed in this article can be inspected for yourself when taking a tour of the data center. If you can’t schedule a tour in person, look and see if the provider has included a video walk through of the facility.

In-house Remote Hands: Ask the data center if they have 24/7 engineers on site in case something urgent needs to be done. Also inquire if these remote hands are 3rd party or not, as this could end up being more costly to your enterprise. HostDime’s remote hands are in-house and available around the clock, including all holidays, and even during natural disasters. This eliminates a need for you to send your own I.T. staff to the data center to perform tasks that we can easily handle.
 

Security of the Facility: Your data is paramount to your enterprise. When you outsource this from your location, you should be sure you are keeping it with a provider who has undertaken the right security measures and has the necessary certifications. This is another reason to tour the data center. If you can get to your server without an escort, pass code, etc, who else may be able to get to your server easily? Look and see if video cameras are keeping a watchful eye over the cabinets.
 

Security of the Servers: Virtual security is just as important as physical security. HostDime pays special attention to each server’s security, pre and post production, to provide peace of mind. All of our dedicated servers undergo a 10 point security inspection before they are deployed. HostDime also offers three types of DDoS server protection: cloud-based traffic scrubbing, Arbor Network’s local inline mitigation, and Hybrid Cloud Protection.
 

Customer Service: At other companies, the focus is on quantity and speed. Conversely, the support goal at HostDime is to respond ASAP, but not at the expense of results. HostDime’s experienced techs try to make the world a smarter place one person at a time; solving your problem is above all. Your success is our success, and this is how we try to help. Best of all, you are speaking to our own staff supporting our own systems and services. We provide a local footprint in eight countries with employees who understand the culture and language. Read more on our unique, non-outsourced approach to customer service.
 

HostDime designed purpose-built and privately-owned data centers in Florida, USA as well as Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, and operates data centers in partner facilities in Hong Kong, India, and the United Kingdom.

We help many large enterprises craft a solution of cloud and colocation to meet their needs and save them money. A hybrid approach can save your enterprise a hefty chunk of change versus scaling only in the public cloud. Open a ticket with our local sales team to create your own customizable set-up.