Cont’d from Why Choose a Data Center to Host your Servers?
Quality of Service
Companies do not often upgrade their server hardware and this means that most businesses are seldom running the latest equipment, or utilizing cutting edge technology. DCs must use current, quality hardware in order to stay competitive. So a virtual server will be a cutting edge technology machine. This means that it will provide better quality functionality, resulting in a superior service, with a greatly reduced danger of downtime.
Another advantage to companies who choose to have their server(s) hosted by a data center is that they will never have to worry about upgrading operating systems and applications. They will automatically be kept current by the DC, depending on the platform and package that you choose, which will in turn depend on the size of the business.
Guaranteed Continuity
Continuity is another key consideration. No business can afford outages. They mean wasted time – and time is money – plus, they are always inconvenient, and in worst case scenarios, even though they may be brief, they often mean lost new business opportunities.
Most vendors boast uptimes of 98% + but really, you need to be going with the one that’s 99.99% to ensure that you’re covered. It’s also a good idea to check out customer testimonials and what’s providing in the SLA (Service Level Agreement) before committing and ensuring that the center is reasonably close geographically is also sound planning.
Dispensing with Maintenance
Using Data Centers to host servers also means that users don’t have the responsibility for maintenance. Good maintenance needs properly trained staff to carry it out, so it’s costly. It also means an ongoing responsibility. Effective maintenance helps to minimize outages, so it’s an essential function.
When it’s done in-house by individual end users, it usually means that IT staff is tied up with non-productive work. Their services can usually be put to better use. DCs have specialist, dedicated, maintenance staff to fulfill this function more proficiently, and do it more economically. It’s something that the end user never sees or needs to be worried about. It’s part of the DC’s server hosting package.
Again, with regard to smaller businesses, that can’t necessarily afford a dedicated IT team or department, this is something that can be taken almost entirely from their shoulders.
Eco Friendliness
Using a Data Center, or colocation as it is also known, has environmental benefits too. The marshalling of many individual servers in one location enables maximization of the available resources, rather than having to duplicate them on an individual user basis, which is, by comparison, much more inefficient.
Of course, a business that also uses less power is more sustainable and as this is something that’s becoming increasingly important to the consumer, so too it should to businesses. Consumers are becoming more interested with working with ethical companies in the modern, connected world where transparency is a must, than they ever have before, thanks to the power and freedom that the internet affords when it comes to investigating the organizations they buy from.
SLAs and Related Issues
When choosing a data center it’s vital that you don’t just jump on the first good sales chat that you encounter. Take your time, look around, have a look in detail at exactly what you’re getting for your money. Not all vendors are created equally and nor are SLAs, some of which can bury jargon in the small print that doesn’t give you full protection or the data center a great deal of liability. As much as there are many ethical companies around, there will equally always be those that are less so.
Auditing
Finally, a word about auditing. Any company that stores sensitive information such as credit card details must be audited. Many businesses are ill-prepared for audits when they come around so do ask the data center what their approach is and how they can help make the auditing process that little bit less stressful.
However, also bear in mind that when it comes to consumer information it is your business that carries the responsibility should anything go wrong and that’s why it’s essential to ask the right questions.
William Thompson
William Thompson is the Marketing Manager at Power Admin, a server monitoring software business in the Kansas City area. You can find him on Google+ and Twitter. William has been a professional in website design, digital marketing and 3D/graphic design for over 20 years.