The Definitive Guide to Evaluating Colocation Providers

2 CONFIDENTIAL & PROPRIETARY

What is Colocation?

Colocation is a service provided within a data center facility where some combination of space, uninterrupted power, physical security and network bandwidth can be rented by multiple retail customers.

COLOCATION

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How Will Colocation Benefit My Business?

SCALABILITY •  Add space, power & connectivity on-demand •  Upgrade in-place with high power density capabilities •  Meet bandwidth capacity demands via multiple / diverse

carrier options

CONTINUITY •  Concurrently maintainable N+1 designs yield maximum

power availability •  Tier III+ by Uptime Institute standard

SECURITY & COMPLIANCE •  24/7 security staff •  Video surveillance •  Audited facilities with multiple certifications:

AICPA SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, PCI

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DENSITY

HYBRID DESIGNS

ECOSYSTEMS

EFFICIENCY

COMPLIANCE

What’s New in Colocation?

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Market Divisions

WH

OLE

SALE

R

ETAIL

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6 CONFIDENTIAL & PROPRIETARY

•  Geography •  Power Density Capabilities •  Resiliency •  Service Level Commitments •  Connectivity •  Security •  Support •  Amenities

What Factors Should I Consider?

BUYING CRITERIA

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Buying Criteria: Is Location Really Everything?

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2

18

16

14

12

10

8

6

4

2000 ’04 ’06 ’08 ’10 ’12 ’14 ’16 ’02

Pow

er R

equi

rem

ent P

er

Foot

prin

t (kW

)

Year

20+

Buying Criteria: Power Density

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“TIER III” DESIGN: CONCURRENT MAINTAINABILITY

Fully-redundant system, “N+1 with concurrently maintainability”

Construction costs

$1000/sq.ft.

Expected annual IT downtime (not just data center downtime!)

1.6 hours

VERY LOW HIGH

Power/Mechanical distribution paths

Fault tolerance

YES

Susceptibility to downtime during maintenance?

System/Path compartmentalization

2 (1 active,1 alternate)

Buying Criteria: Resiliency

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•  A Service Level Agreement (SLA) is your only recourse for a failure in service delivery

•  A SLA also commits vendor support

response and other important performance commitments

Buying Criteria: Service Level Agreements

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•  Connectivity plays heavily to application performance and availability

•  Carrier neutral colocation facilities offer multiple provider options, route optimization and fault tolerance

•  Interconnectivity to cloud providers and other ecosystem offerings can improve performance, enhance security and reduce costs

Buying Criteria: Connectivity

CONNECTIVITY

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Facility should have some or all of the following (based on your priority):

Buying Criteria: Security

•  Secure loading dock area •  Biometric locking mechanisms •  Man-traps with weight sensors •  Video monitoring with archival •  Access logs •  Password or credential-protected

access to all physical locations and online systems

SECURITY

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•  Technical resources

available 24/7 •  Online tools for monitoring

and management •  Account support for any

need by phone, email or online

Buying Criteria: Support

SUPPORT

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Comfort & Convenience

Buying Criteria: Amenities

•  Furnished conference rooms and meeting spaces

•  Technical work space and burn-in areas

•  Lounge space with entertainment options

•  Vending options

AMENITIES

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CABINET

SQUARE FT

kW

What are the Space Pricing Options?

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What are the Power Pricing Options?

Per Circuit (Flat Rate) Power Billing

Allocated kW Billing

Metered Power (Usage Based) Billing

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How is Colocation Priced?

Space < 20 cab 20-50 cabs 50+ cabs

Power > 50 kW 50 kW 100 kW

Space Per cab or per square feet

Per cab or per square feet Per kW

Power Flat-rate circuit Per kW Metered power

Retail Wholo Wholesale

Requirement

Solution

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Colocation Buyer’s Checklist

Space How many cabinets or racks do you require to hold your equipment? Power/Density

How much power (in kW) do you require for each cabinet or rack? How do you see that changing over time?

Location What are your location requirements in terms of convenience or disaster mitigation?

Resiliency How resilient is the power delivery design of the facility? How insulated is the facility from disasters?

Security What security policies / systems are in place and what access control measures exist?

Connectivity Is the facility carrier-neutral? Are there sufficient options? Ecosystems?

Scalability Does the provider have sufficient excess space/power capacity? Can they support density?

Hybrid Services

Is there direct access to cloud solutions that can be blended with your colocation footprint?

Service Levels What level of availability is committed? Do they offer proactive credits?

Compliance Is the facility audited? If so, how often? Can you get a copy of the report(s)?

Cost Does the facility offer the right combination of price/performance for your needs?

Support Is support available 24/7? What access options exist and what is the response time?

Amenities Does the facility have the amenities that your technical team requires? Efficiency

What standards does the provider adhere to? What certifications has it attained? (LEED, EnergyStar, etc.)

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