Five tips for choosing a data center hosting provider

Five tips for choosing a data center hosting provider

Choosing a suitable data center hosting provider is a long and difficult process for many enterprise decision makers. There are more options, but enterprises must ensure that the suppliers they select are most suitable for their organizations and customer needs. Only when a supplier can solve the current IT pain points and meet their specific requirements can the managed data center environment provide many benefits for enterprises.

When selecting a hosting data center service provider, several factors need to be taken into consideration. Their final decision depends on the level of service that the supplier can provide. Let's take a look at some of the most important and best practices that companies can observe when looking for managed services:

(1) What types of services does an enterprise need?

First, policy makers should list the exact types of services they need from data center providers. The list may include the specific circumstances of the host hosting environment, the devices used, the services of machines or components, and so on. The breadth of service provision is an important criterion because it can not only help shape the current relationship, but also build a more powerful partnership in the future.

On the other hand, some organizations only need to host services because their current host solution itself is working with other vendors. Because of this, it is necessary to outline the precise levels of services.

(2) Where is the data center located?

As part of best practices for hosting providers in North America, Gartner recommends that you check the geographic layout of data center facilities, which may affect business development. Gartner pointed out that location has a considerable impact on business development and can be used as an opportunity to improve the company's capabilities, including solving network latency, disaster recovery and data sovereignty.

When considering the location of the data center, you must also consider how the geographical location affects the service of the supplier. For example, FORTRUS's data center in Denver considers locations that are away from bad weather like a hurricane and storm. This helps it ensure continuous service availability and normal running time.

(3) What is the normal running time level provided by the data center hosting provider?

Another key factor in the study is the normal running time. It is recommended that you ask the data center hosting provider about the normal running time of 100% of the key systems currently recorded, because the downtime is not only non-productive, but also expensive. According to a study by the bonimon Research Institute, the hourly downtime of a typical organization will be reduced by about $7900, because the basic content and resources are not accessible.

Although the data center design does have a certain impact on normal operation time, human errors, and poor management, it will hinder any benefits provided by the data center design. Policy makers should be sure to ask how long the availability of critical electrical and mechanical systems of suppliers can be maintained by 100%, and how to define the normal operation time. In addition, it is important to ask about the scheduled downtime related to the incident and how the supplier solves these instances.

(4) What is the equipment repair process?

Data center Maintenance and Management is also a key factor. Data center hosting providers should be able to manage the data center infrastructure of potential customers through technical measures, including necessary maintenance such as power supply and cooling systems. Suppliers should have adequate monitoring measures for their data center facilities and important components to ensure that the threshold values for any problems are observed to prevent any problems that may result in sudden power outages, and can be quickly solved.

Full monitoring of many key data points of critical system infrastructure allows data center operators to recognize the changing conditions and actively manage the capabilities based on the changing trend of specific parameters, make a wise decision.

(5) What kind of supervision is there in the host hosting environment?

What kind of environment can host hosting providers provide for enterprises? enterprises should also consider control and supervision. Enterprise decision makers should ask the remote management function of the data center and how to report key data to customers.