Colocation for the Changing Cloud

With this in mind, there are several key factors for having an ideal environment within which cloud computing services can grow and prosper:

1. Limitless Scalability

Cloud computing demands higher levels of faster scalability than previous delivery models. Bandwidth and processing power need to be instantly available for surges in demand, with the added ability to reduce resources when peaks in traffic have passed. By outsourcing to a large data center, companies do not have to worry about over-provisioning for spikes in demand, therefore avoiding issues of under-utilization. Using a third-party data center also prevents the risk of running out of capacity for such heightened demands.

2. Physical and Virtual Security

Although there are many benefits of moving to the cloud, there are also some risks. The Ethernet-based cloud is not impenetrable or fail-safe and is certainly not immune to data loss. Organizations must identify operational and security risks associated with the cloud, namely data security, integrity and privacy, so as to better choose a solution that addresses these concerns.

Large data center environments are ideally suited to secure delivery of cloud applications, such as Storage-as-a-Service and Software-as-a-Service. This is due to the robust nature of the data center’s infrastructure and the inherent need for high-quality, efficient and up-to-the-minute technologies and hardware. Larger facilities excel in both physical and data security, with multiple security layers and fail-safes, as well as back-up and recovery systems that protect against data loss.

More of the Data Center Knowledge article from Kevin Dean

With the major standards bodies working out identity management and security and portability in the cloud, the industry has turned its attention to another matter: cloud computing law and order — in particular, the lack of jurisprudence as to who pays for what when an outage occurs.

“Providers can build the best clouds out there, with high availability, performance and price; but every cloud provider goes down,” said Drue Reeves, director of research at Burton Group in Midvale, Utah. “When that happens, who owns the liability? The consumer, the provider? We don’t have enough jurisprudence to decide who pays for that.” Public clouds service the mass market with standard service-level agreements (SLA) rather than individual agreements. Most of them will pay for time lost during a service interruption, but not for valuable business lost, he said.

More of the SearchCIO article from Laura Smith

Should you be using outsource data center for a do-it-yourself disaster recovery center?

Ten years ago, organizations that wanted to protect their enterprise data center from disaster had few choices. Back then, the mainframe was usually the centerpiece of the disaster recovery plan. The disaster recovery plan for the server environment was managed in-house with backup tapes and software. Some companies included servers into to their mainframe disaster recovery contracts, usually at very expensive yearly rates.

But times have changed, and new technologies are helping companies build customized disaster recovery plans that blend

Today, two key technologies are enabling companies to build cost-effective do-it yourself disaster recovery centers:

Virtualization: VMware, Hyper-V, Xen, and a number of open source platforms are allowing for multiple logical servers on a physical server. With additional tools for moving and replicating these server images across multiple physical servers, virtualization enables companies to not only protect against a prolonged outage, but to allow for routine server maintenance with little or no downtime.

SAN replicaton: near real-time or real time data replication comes standard on many SANs. Bandwidth requirements are lower and reliability is excellent on most.

These two enabling technologies need the right environment in which to operate. Reliable outousrce data center facilites are available everywhere. But few offer 99.995% uptime. Carrier choices exist in most data centers. But a few offer carrier neutral data center space with no cross-connect fees. Hardened data center facilities are more difficult to find. Data center certifications and compliance can play an important role in your choice.

Building a customized solution is a little more complex than buying all of your disaster recovery services from a single vendor. But putting your own equipment in an affordable colocation facility (outsource data center) that offers multiple carrier choices and no cross connect fees can not only improve recovery times, it can significantly reduce costs. Want to learn more? Call Lifeline Data Centers at 17.423.2591.

While I’m by no means trying to take attention away from the horrific environmental and economic disaster that the now largest oil spill in U.S. history has caused, I can’t help but see some lessons that I and other IT professionals can learn from it.

The massive amount of crude heading to the Gulf Coast is currently being met by an army of ships, clean-up vehicles and tens of thousands of people who are collecting and cleaning hundreds of miles of beaches. A unified command structure that is coordinating efforts of local, state and federal agencies alongside commercial assets is now in place, sifting and transmitting tons of vital information in near real time, to deploy resources where they can be most effective.

Most of this, of course, is occurring away from comfortable offices with stable infrastructure. Data is being transferred to and from remote operations via multiple channels, including landline, wireless and satellite technology. The connectivity issues alone are mind boggling.

More of the CSO article from Max Huang

In Part 1 of this article, I talked about your organization’s need for high computer system reliability, also known as data center uptime. I talked about the emerging standard of of 99.995% uptime, which translates to 28 minutes of downtime per year or less. I discussed the option of building your own data center, including the benefits of better control, and the downsides of high costs and complexity.

Your other option is to use outsource data center facilities to house your enterprise data center. Outsource data center facilities come in many shapes and sizes. Here are a few of the most common:

Managed services providers – Large providers such as IBM, HP, and Sungard offer data center space along with managed services such as IT support, network, server and storage hardware. These providers are well suited to replace some or all of your IT staff, along with the burden of maintaining hardware and a data center. Profitability for these providers is often based on managed services, so these managed services providers will be keenly interested in providing their IT services to your organization.

Telecommunications providers – Telecommunications providers like AT&T, and TW Telecom started the colocation business. They sold extra space in their central offices to companies that needed more reliable power. Costs vary for these facilities, and the “rule book” tends to be fairly restrictive. There are often limits on power, space per rack, and access to other telecommunications providers. Some have ventured into the managed services business to generate additional revenues.

Wholesale colocation facilities – The simplest offering, wholesale colocation offers hardened data centers, redundant power and cooling, along with physical security, and fire suppression. I call wholesale data centers “high-tech landlords” because they offer real estate-like services to your organization. Wholesale colocation offers expertise in power and cooling. These are areas of expertise that most IT organizations lack. You have the flexibility to choose who does the IT services, whether it your own staff or a third party provider. Wholesale data centers also offer flexibility for growth and change inside the data center. A select few of the best providers are carrier neutral data centers with a dozen carriers or more that charge no monthly cross-connect fees. Watch for hidden costs on power utilization. You should be able to pay incrementally as you grow your power utilization and rack space.

Regardless of the type of outsource data center you select, make sure you ask questions about:

• Power and cooling systems: Do they have two of everything? You’ll be surprised at how many lack basic data center redundancy and reliability.
• SAS 70 data center certification: Is data center compliance is affecting your vendors and clients? You can “buy” a level of compliance in an outsource data center.
• Colocation power costs: What are you paying per kilowatt hour of utilization? Are their limits on power per rack? Are there hidden charges for more power? Your data center power costs can double based on the geographic location you select.

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Do wholesale colocation facilities sound like they might fit your needs? For affordable colocation, call me at Lifeline Data Centers, 317.423.2591.

Data center uptime has become the one of the most important quality metrics for today’s successful enterprise. More organizations depend on their computer systems to:

• sell their products and services online via e-commerce
• deliver core services
• manufacture products
• manage logistics
• communicate with clients, vendors and remote staff

The Tier IV data center standard of 99.995% uptime (28 minutes of downtime per year or less) is fast becoming the minimum acceptable downtime level for an organization’s most important computer applications. If an hour’s worth of downtime in the middle of the day hobbles your business and costs you revenue, profits, or clients, please read on.

What are the options for managing the risk of downtime?

You can build an enterprise data center in-house, but the cost of a 99.995% uptime facility means that you need at least two of everything: two utility feeds, two generators, two UPS systems, and two air conditioning systems. You’ll also need a hardened data center facility that is built to withstand regional disasters. In-house data centers offer you the highest level of control. But in-house data centers can be expensive, capital intensive and expensive to maintain. If you compromise at any level, whether it’s one utility feed, one generator, one UPS system , or one air conditioner, you increase your risk of downtime by an order of magnitude.

Your other option is to use outsource data center and/or managed services providers to manage your risk of downtime. In part 2, I”ll cover the variety of options available.

Many Chicago area companies protect their mission critical computer systems by implementing an off-site disaster recovery center. This disaster recovery data center is often an outsource computer room facility with rack space or private cages. Companies build a second computer room facility that replicates their most important computer systems. If a server fails, the company can use the replica of the server and the data in the disaster recovery center. This approach also protects against larger-scale business interruptions, like a fire or a tornado.

Is Chicago colocation (outsource data center facilities) too close to protect a Chicago-area business? Opinions vary on how far is far enough when it comes to a disaster recovery center. Cost usually plays a factor, and Chicago-area colocation can be expensive; power, floor space, access to Internet connections, and monthly cross-connect fees add up.

Midwest colocation outside of Chicago may be the best solution. Indianapolis offers low data center power costs and enough distance to reduce risks. Lifeline Data Centers in Indianapolis delivers wholesale colocation facilities with 15 telecommunications carriers and no monthly no cross-connect fees. Lifeline’s hardened data center facilities and N+N data center redundancy deliver 9.995% data center uptime or better. Need data center? Call Lifeline at 317.423.2591

Reliability is becoming the most important commodity in the data center. Most of your customers would agree that reliable access to your computer systems is more important that application features.

IT staff are good at supporting applications. They are usually talented at designing reliability into your most important business software: application, server and connection redundancy, along with data replication and fail-over procedures. How good is your staff manage the facilities side of reliability?

The lion’s share of outages are related to data center downtime. Power, cooling, security, fire suppression and building failures account for the majority of outages in the enterprise data center.

Large and small companies alike are investigating alternatives to the in-house data center. Some consider outsource data center facilities for high data center uptime (high reliability). 99.995% uptime (27 minutes of downtime per year or less) is the level expected of tier IV data centers. Many CIOs feel that their most mission critical applications require mission critical facilities with 99.995% uptime.

Selecting outsource data center facilities can be tricky. Also known as colocation facilities, these outsourced data centers come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some focus on IT services. A few focus on providing high-tech real estate with flexible options, so that savvy IT organizations can grow and change without barriers.

Wholesale colocation facilities like Lifeline Data Centers in Indianapolis, Indiana

• Affordable colocation
• 99.995% uptime
• Hardened data center facilities
• Low data center power costs
• Pay as you grow rack and power pricing
• Fifteen telecom carriers in a carrier-neutral data center
• No monthly cross-connect fees
• SAS70 data center compliance
• Data center compliance: HIPAA, FDA, NIST and TIA 942 compliant data centers

Need more reliability? Use wholesale colocation facilities. Leverage decades of experience at Lifeline Data Centers, 317.423.2591.

Does data center uptime equal your company’s reputation?

The reliability of your most important computer systems affects the way that you interact with customers and vendors. If your customer-facing systems are not reliable, you run the risk of losing revenues, profits and customers.

If your internal computer systems are not reliable, your employees have a harder time selling, making products, or delivering services. If your customer service systems are down, you’re risking your reputation, and the loss of customers.

How reliable do your systems need to be? The computer industry has a few different metrics for uptime (reliability). 4 1/2 9s of uptime (99.995% uptime) = 28 minutes of downtime per year or less. This is the expected level of downtime for tier IV data centers, the highest uptime tier.

But building and operating an enterprise data center with this level of reliability is expensive. It takes millions of dollars of capital, along with FTEs and ongoing maintenance costs. How does an IT department deliver data center reliability without spending all the profits?

Smart IT departments consider outsource data center facilities as an alternative to building their own. Often times, these companies use the outsource data center as the primary data center, because high uptime and high reliability are most important for a company’s primary computer systems.

Wholesale colocation facilities and wholesale computer rooms like Lifeline Data Centers provide a low-cost alternative to building out a high-reliability data center. And other benefits like data center certifications and data center compliance come along with the package, reducing the burden of compliance for the company.

How important is reliability to your mission critical computer systems? Is your company’s reputation on the line? Call Lifeline Data Centers at 317.423.2591 to learn how your company can improve data center uptime and control long-term costs.

Colocation power costs are driving many companies to move to outsource data centers. The cost of power in the densely-populated areas of the USA is rising, as is the power usage in the data center. Companies who need 99.995% uptime or better from their critical computer systems are investigating data center alternatives in locations where power is less expensive.

Lifeline Data Centers offers power pricing based on a $.055 cost of power. Lifeline’s affordable Midwest colocation facilities help companies reduce costs and improve uptime. Interested? Call Lifeline Data Centers at 317.423.2591