10 Tips for Choosing the Right Data Center

Companies are increasing their data usage and looking towards data centers to support their growth.
Now, there’s many data centers available to all types of businesses, but finding the best fit isn’t the
easiest decision for businesses. Housing your critical data and infrastructure in a facility requires lots of
trust and consideration, but not all data centers are equal. Each facility has different standards and
services, and you need to consider various factors in finding the right data center. Below is a general
list of tips that businesses need to consider when looking at their options.

How to Choose the Right Data Center

Location is one of the most important factors for selecting the right data center. While there are many
data center locations worldwide, the right facility should have a physical location that’s easy for
someone from your business to access. Take into consideration how the area is susceptible to natural
disasters like tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes.

2. Building Space
The physical space is just as important as the digital space for your colocation needs. The ideal data
center should have bigger and better spaces to allow for equipment to run more efficiently. In addition,
if disaster strikes, look for a facility that has dedicated office space for disaster recovery and business
continuity.

3. Scalability
While a data center might be able to meet your current needs, how will it support your growth in the
future? Every data center is different in their flexibility. Some offer out of the box solutions with
limited options and others provide more customized solutions that are tailored just for your business’s
needs. Don’t hesitate to find out more about the availability of more space and power if needed.

4. Security
Your data is critical to your business. When you host it in another location, you better be using a
provider who uses state-of-the-art security measures and compliant with data regulations such as SOC
2, SSAE 18, and HIPAA. The facility should have physical security barriers including multiple security
layers, access control procedures, surveillance and alarm systems. Advanced monitoring should be in
place to detect and notify any possible building or system emergencies.
5. Reliability
Downtime means bad times for businesses. A reliable data center should have a system in place to
provide instant backup power and guaranteed uptime of 99.982%. Look for a data center that has at
least tier 3 certification for redundancy

6. Connectivity
Unfortunately, some data centers only offer one or a few carriers to connect with. The ideal data center
should be carrier-neutral and offer multiple fiber entrances. This offers a wide choice of major
bandwidth providers to connect to, and faster and more reliable performance for your business’s
servers.

7. Power and Cooling

Brownouts and blackouts can happen anytime and drastically affect your uptime. A reliable data center
should have power redundancies in place to guarantee consistency and uninterruptible power supply
(UPS). Backup generators should keep the servers and connections running for longer periods of time.

8. Remote Hands Support

9. Reputation
Reputation can make or break your data center decision. Before choosing any data center, find out
more about the provider’s service record and history. Do some in-depth research, look for testimonials,
and find feedback from current clients to see how they deal with customer issues.

10. Customer Service

Data centers shouldn’t only focus on larger space and faster speeds for businesses. The right facility
should have dedicated and experienced support staff available 24x7x365 to answer questions and solve
problems when needed.
1. What are you moving?
Whether you are using a Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) solution to track your
inventory or managing your assets in an Excel spreadsheet, knowing both what you have and what you
are going to move underlies many of the decisions you will make about the move and therefore is one
of the first things you should determine. Are you bringing everything or only some assets? Will you use
all of your existing assets or purchase replacements? Can you remove abandoned or ghost servers?
Who owns the assets and the associated applications? How will you move your assets? Will everything
be moved at once? What impact will downtime from the move have on your internal and external
customers?
2. What do you know about your data center network connections?
Once you know which assets you will be moving to your new data center, you need to consider how
your assets are physically connected, which will help you plan the layout of your data center from a
hardware and cabling perspective. Is there a cabling inventory system already in place? Who is
responsible for tracking network and power connections? Do you know which assets are connected and
how? How far up and down the power/network chain can you trace?
3. How much space and power do you need?
Knowing what you plan to move and understanding how your assets are connected, combined with
estimates based on budgeted and actual power readings, will help you determine how much space and
power you need. Also, consider not only your current needs but also forecasted growth and demand for
future resources. Will all of your assets fit in the new location, with room to grow? Will the space and
power in your data center scale to your needs? Will you be able to restructure to deal with power hogs?
Can you handle failover conditions? Are you using iPDUs or other hardware that can help with
capacity planning and energy efficiency to achieve higher ROI in your new data center?
4. How will you monitor buildout progress in the new location?
Chances are that you won’t always be physically present in your new data center, so you will need a
way to ensure that the moves, adds, and changes in your data center progress on time and on budget.
How do you confirm that your assets are placed where you want them? Can you automate any of the
work? How do you limit the potential for human error with your change requests? How do you ensure
that the inventory and associated records are kept up to date?
5. How will you measure success (immediately after the move and in the future)?
Initially, just having everything installed, documented, and tested in your new data center may seem
like a triumph in itself. However, long-term as well as short-term successes are important to justify the
move. What data will you need to forecast power, capacity, and other resources accurately? What
reporting mechanisms are in place? What metrics will you track? Is the data easily available?
The intricacies of moving a data center can complicate the planning stage, leading to wasted time and
unexpected difficulties during the actual implementation. Answering these key questions can help you
focus on the most critical components of relocating your data center and making your move a success.