Owning a colocation data center is a big deal. It comes with big responsibilities, no matter how small the center is. You must constantly keep up with the repairs and upgrade your equipment. Most enterprises choose to work with hybrid data centers, which in my opinion is the best thing to do. It includes both public and private clouds, flexible enough to modify it to your needs. However, there are things that a colocation data center must have. These are the 5 things you have to keep in mind when looking for a data center colocation provider.

1. The Location

When looking for colocation data centers, you can not ignore its location. Location is important given it effects accessibility. Think about it, what would you do if someone from your company had to physically go to the location? The nearer the data center, the quicker your response to the problems.

When mentioning location, you also have to look into how prone the data center location is to natural disasters such as floods, tornadoes, earthquakes… Of course, it is their responsibility to be cautious when building the center, but its better to be extra careful.

2. Disaster recovery

MTR – also known as mean time to recover. Colocation data centers must have a disaster recovery plan in order to quickly repair after a disaster occurs, either naturally or due to a human mistake. The more downtime they provide, the more money you lose. No matter what the reason of the outage is, a data center should not only reboot but also recover the data essential to you. Before choosing the colo center, know the details of their disaster recovery plans.~

3. Security

High level Security is a must, both inside and outside the facility. Before deciding on a colocation service provider, understand the security measures it provides. Do you have access to the cameras? Can you add security cameras? How much of the facility does it cover?  Make sure the security procedures are suitable for you, and that they are up for discussing other options.

4. Reliability

Let’s start off by saying, every minute that you can not rely on your data center, you may lose thousands of dollars. So pretty much, reliability is key. A Great colo provider should be dependable at least 100% of the time 24/7 to operate optimally. What will a data center offer, if not the best network? Things to look for are high network speed and technology advancements in addition to staff certification, quality service and on-site customer support.

5. Power

People mostly look for power when they are in the process of choosing a colocation data center. You have to be able to understand how much power the data center is providing you and it has the power capacity you need. Make sure to check the history of outages in your selected location. It is essential to also mention that while going on data center hunting, make sure that it has an adequate cooling system. Why you may ask? Cooling is not only essential to keep the equipment operating at its best, but these data centers can run hot. Therefore, if you see cooling cost with your power fees, now you know why.

Check out our coloco blog for more essential information you need to know before taking a step forward into the colocation data centers.