There are many reasons that a company will select a colocation data centre provider such as Telecity instead of hosting servers and data storage internally.

A company’s decision regarding its choice of data centre can have serious consequences on performance across the board and so is vital to make the right choice of service provider.

When choosing your preferred data centres, consider carefully your company’s requirements. At the very least, they should include:

Location

The location of the data centre will have a bearing on a number of factors: proximity to networks, local legislative factors and consideration of environmental factors should all be considered. Also, how easy is it for your staff to access the data centre to maintain your equipment?

Power supply

A reliable and secure power supply with access to back-up is an essential consideration. A good-sized data centre can use as much power as a small town, so always ask potential service providers how they secure their supply.

Security

A key advantage of employing a data centre is excellent physical security, frequently far more robust than is achievable internally at a basic office location. The safety of client files is essential, so a reputable, high-quality data centre provider such as Telecity will also use a range of physical security measures such as biometric ID, layered access and security guards to prevent physical damage, theft and industrial espionage.

Staff

A really good data centre will have personnel on site 365 days a year to offer technical support as well as security. This is particularly important if your business is not located near the data centre; should your servers go down, how do you reboot them if you aren’t there or cannot get there quickly?

All of the factors mentioned above combine to mean one thing: continuity. Companies that use data centres have to be assured that the functionality and security of their data storage is there, so that they are online all the time.

A company must have total faith in its chosen data centre’s ability to protect their files, as information held by data centres will often contain financial details, unique product developments, or entire customer databases. To put all of this information into the hands of a third party requires complete confidence in their ability to provide reliable and resilient service.