This document outlines the top 10 reasons for IT infrastructure colocation. Colocation provides businesses access to robust data center infrastructure for a fixed monthly fee, relieving them of the capital and operational expenses of maintaining their own facilities. Key benefits include robust security, network speed and reliability, backup power, high uptime reliability, on-site technical skills, regulatory compliance, flexibility, quality of service, and use as a disaster recovery location.

1. TOP 10 BEST REASONS
FOR COLOCATION

2. 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

3. 01 FISCALLY
RESPONSIBLE
04 BACK-UP
POWER
05 UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06 ON-STAFF
03 NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02 SECURITY
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

4. 04 BACK-UP
POWER
05 UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06 ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07 REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
03 NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
02 SECURITY
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

5. 04 BACK-UP
POWER
05 UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06 ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07 REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
03 NETWORK SPEED
& RELIABILITY
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

6. 04 BACK-UP
POWER
05 UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06 ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07 REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09 QUALITY
OF SERVICE
& RELIABILITY
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

7. POWER
05 UPTIME
RELIABILITY
06 ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07 REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09 QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10 DISASTER
RECOVERY
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

8. 06 ON-STAFF
SKILLS
07 REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09 QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10 DISASTER
RECOVERY
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

9. 07 REGULATORY
COMPLIANCE
09 QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10 DISASTER
RECOVERY
08 FLEXIBILITY Nothing 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

10. COMPLIANCE
09 QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10 DISASTER
RECOVERY
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

11. 09 QUALITY
OF SERVICE
10 DISASTER
RECOVERY
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

12. OF SERVICE
10 DISASTER
RECOVERY
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

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STEP TO OUTSOURCE YOUR IT?
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