Checklist: How to Find the Best Colocation Provider

Josh Moody, SVP Sales FORTRUST

In this week’s Voice of the Industry, Josh Moody, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at FORTRUST, shares a checklist to find the Best Colocation Provider.

According to a recent report from 451 Research, the global colocation data center market is poised to reach a value of $36 billion before 2018, up from its current worth of around $22.8 billion. This not only means increased competition for service providers, but more choices than ever for customers.

So how can clients be sure they are selecting a colocation provider that will best suit their needs? This checklist lays out many of the major factors decision-makers should consider when choosing a colocation provider, ensuring that they will find a partner that will best support their business.

Colocation Provider Checklist

• Service capabilities: According to Data Center Knowledge, one of the first things to examine with a potential colocation provider is its available service capabilities. It’s important that the services offered will match up with and address the needs of the company. Here, decision-makers can consider the amount of space needed, the level of support, how maintenance and upgrades will be carried out, as well as the processes governing these activities. Additionally, the company can evaluate how those services will meet future needs.

• Redundancy and availability: Speaking of redundancy, it’s important to investigate the availability the provider can offer, their track record of providing this availability, as well as what backup systems and processes are in place. For instance, many providers have redundant power, cooling and other utilities on site to ensure that if an outage occurs, equipment can continue to operate as it should. It is helpful to ask about the provider’s current redundancy options and what that means for the business. Of course, a colocation provider that has 14 years of continuous critical systems uptime is a great choice in this regard.

• Power and cooling: Data Center Journal also recommended examining the power and cooling resources that will be available to the company, as well as the prices and limitations involved. It’s important to have an idea of how much power and cooling the business will need in its colocation environment before making this consideration. This will help ensure that the provider can offer the required resources. It’s also critical to think about future needs here – if the organization grows, can its colocation environment expand alongside it to meet its needs?

• Monitoring and transparency: In addition, it’s important to understand what metrics will be tracked by the provider, and if the company will have access to this information. Transparency has become incredibly important in today’s business climate, and it’s important to find a provider that can illustrate service levels through facts and figures. FORTRUST, for example, offers clients access to COLOVIEW, a unique service that provides an in-depth view of the power, cooling, temperature and relative humidity in each environment.

• Facility location: Another important consideration to make involves the location of the provider’s data center. This factor will largely depend on how the client will utilize the services. For example, if the colocation services will be used for disaster recovery, the organization may consider selecting a location that is not in the same region as their main computing facility for added security, redundancy and flexibility.

While this is by no means an exhaustive list, these points will help businesses select the most capable colocation provider to support their needs.

Josh joined FORTRUST in 2008. As Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, he is responsible for developing, managing and executing the overall sales strategy for FORTRUST. Josh brings more than 18 years of experience in the information technology field, including developing and executing strategic planning, management, customer relations, and vendor/partner relationships. Colorado Business Magazine identified Josh as one of the top 25 Most Powerful Sales Reps in Colorado in 2010. To find out more about colocation and COLOVIEW, contact FORTRUST today.