Top 10 Points to Discuss When Touring a Data Center

Sept. 8, 2015
After a few tours, it may seem as though there isn’t much difference between one data center and the next. This couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s important to know what to look for so you can make an informed decision. Find out they 10 key points to discuss when selecting a data center!

The modern data center is an expansive engine working to drive the cloud, the user, and new kinds of business demands. The reality in today’s market is that organizations are continuously working to optimize their data center and IT operations while still keeping costs down. Over time, many of these organizations require new data center partners and better services. Similarly, there is an even larger emerging number of businesses which are actively looking to move their ecosystem into a data center environment.

Here’s the big point to consider: Choosing a data center or colocation provider to house your company’s critical IT infrastructure is a huge decision. Unfortunately, colocation providers don’t make it easy to differentiate between them.

After a few tours, it may seem as though there isn’t much difference between one data center and the next. This couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s important to know what to look for so you can make an informed decision. Migrating your IT environment is risky, often expensive, and certainly time consuming, and you want to make the right choice the first time. In this whitepaper from Fortrust, we learn about the 10 critical discussion points when touring a data center partner. They include:

  • What is your current track record of delivering 100% continuous critical systems availability or uptime?
  • How often are maintenance windows declared?
  • What are the current capacities and current usage of both electrical and mechanical systems?
  • What are the highest risks of natural disasters for the area, and what has the data center done to mitigate their impact?
  • Is the data center and provider financially sound and committed?
  • Is the colocation provider’s primary focus on data center infrastructure services?

The important point to consider is that every data center can be very unique in terms of the services they offer, the infrastructure they support, and the SLAs (service level agerements) they can provide. Download this whitepaper today to dive deeper into all of the relevant criteria and questions you’ll need so that you’ll be able to select the best data center or colocation provider to fit your organization’s business goals.

About the Author

Bill Kleyman

Bill Kleyman is a veteran, enthusiastic technologist with experience in data center design, management and deployment. Bill is currently a freelance analyst, speaker, and author for some of our industry's leading publications.

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