Find a Data Center Blog

 

FindaDataCenter.com has partnered with Telx, the leading resource for quality interconnect and colocation services to companies requiring access to global networks and an array of networking solutions.


Telx has recently expanded many of their 14 carrier neutral facilities giving their customers more colocation options than ever before. These expansions include:

• 5,000 square feet of fully condition space in Chicago, IL that can accommodate 200 cabinet equivalents and will seamlessly connect to the existing Telx Meet Me Room.

• 5,300 square feet of space at 60 Hudson Street in New York City.

• 5,300 square feet at 111 8th Avenue, also in New York City.

Telx’s recent expansions illustrate the growth in demand for interconnection and colocation services as well as the need for cutting edge carrier hotel facilities that offer the choice of hundreds of bandwidth providers.

In partnership with FindaDataCenter.com, Telx has created the opportunity for their customers to utilize our database of data center information and resources, as well as access our FiberLocator service, which will help them to identify and source a network that is cost-effective, secure and reliable.

Since 2000, Telx has grown from 1 location at 60 Hudson Street in New York to over a dozen locations in the US.  Today, Telx is the leading provider of network-neutral Meet Me Room Xchange and ColoXchange Centers in North America. Telx is the ‘go-to’ resource for interconnection services because they focus on offering the richest connectivity and dedicated service options in the most secure and reliable colocation facilities for customer’s mission critical operations. Telx facilities leverage the strength of customers' diverse networks to create cost effective solutions delivered with speed and accuracy.  This includes opportunities to access many different IP Transit backbone networks, voice providers, and many of the largest IP Peering points in the US. 

Can’t build it or find it fast enough? Trying to find quality space available to fill customer demand?

FindadataCenter.com can help you secure space and connectivity for Telx space, one of our key partners. Contact us today to learn more.

Before you jump into buying a data center, it’s best to prepare yourself for a cost of $1,500 per square foot. If this is more than you want to spend, take a look at your current data center and decide if there is availability to fit more equipment in it. There’s a lot of new equipment and technology that can make this possible.
 
If you do decide to go forth and buy, don’t hesitate to negotiate with vendors to get the best deal. This is especially viable if you are buying a lot of materials from a single vendor.
 
Technologies are currently available that provide more computing power and use less energy. You can save money by investing in these technologies, which reduce the footprint required to support your applications and create an opportunity for less maintenance and lower costs.
 
Money can also be saved by maximizing your space. Try creating an enclosed area for servers, which can reduce your cooling costs by 50%. Or eliminate your raised floors and use water cooling systems that cool from above, rather than below.

Take advantage of your natural surroundings. Do you live in an area that has natural cooling resources? Such an approach is called “free cooling”, where airside economizers use outside air to cool data centers. Waterside technology that takes water from a natural source such as a stream, pond or river and brings it in contact with pipes carrying heated water out of the data center can also be used.

Although buying a data center is costly, there are numerous ways to save money. Findadatacenter.com can help you find a data center that fits your budget. Our database of over 1000 data centers is sure to have one that’s right for you. Contact us today to learn more.

If you lack the space necessary to host your own data center, or if you don't have the cash to do it, you may want to consider outsourcing your data center. If you decide to go ahead with it, here are some words of wisdom to consider when looking for an outsourced data center.

1. Benchmark your IT infrastructure to assess how you data center’s level of complexity and cost efficiencies stack up against the marketplace. You can use outside firms to help you with this. They may also recommend cost-cutting strategies and help you decided whether outsourcing is the best strategy.
2. Create a game plan from the very beginning, considering what you want to outsource and why.
3. Determine how critical and urgent your data center problems are. Do you need a quick fix or can you take the time to invest in an internal build out? 
4. Consider relocating to a location that costs less. Data center space is inevitably more expensive in a big city. A simple move of five to ten miles out can save you big bucks. 
5. Look into using a second or third tier provider. Because they are smaller, you’ll get the attention you want and need. Just make sure there are contingencies in your contract to protect you should they get acquired by a tier one provider. 
6. Using multiple providers is helpful when your systems and process need expertise in a range of business areas and technologies. 
7. If your budget is tight and you don’t need round the clock support, look into outsourcing the data center to Mexico or India. 
8. Go with green technology whenever it is available. This will maximize computer output with minimum amounts of space, cooling and power. 
9. Before signing a contract, negotiate SLAs up front and make sure to agree on the definition of uptime. 
10. Get everything in writing to ensure that everyone involved in the deal is on the same page.

FindADataCenter.com is your trusted resource for available data centers across the US, including details about individual data centers to inform you which might be best for your business. Contact us today to learn more.
 

Westover Hills in San Antonio has become a hot bed of data center activity as dozens of local and national companies are looking to put their data centers in this riverfront city.

Companies flocking to Westover Hills include San Antonio-based Valero Services Inc., Microsoft Corp., Stream Realty, Lowe's Cos. Inc., Christus Health and Oberthur Gaming Technologies. Companies with existing data centers in Westover Hills include Wachovia, Capital Group and JPMorgan Chase Bank.

Westover Hills has become such a popular city to build a data center because it has the infrastructure for high-technology business, great fiber-optics system, water and sewer systems and inexpensive electricity. San Antonio also has stable weather, is not in an earthquake zone or near a body of water that might threaten a hurricane.

With so many data centers moving to Westover Hills, more power is definitely needed. San Antonio-based CPS Energy plans to provide that power by building a $5-10 million Westover Hills substation  near the Microsoft site. Once completed, the Westover Hills area will have as many substations as the San Antonio Medical Center area and will be one of San Antonio's most wired spots.

FindADataCenter.com is your trusted resource for available and secure data centers across the U.S. Search for a safe and well-protected data center by using the map on FindADataCenter.com or contact us for more information.

When nine counties in eastern Pennsylvania joined together to promote the region as an ideal location for backup data centers, the plan seemed foolproof. Calling the location Wall Street West, local officials set out to reach Wall Street Firms and convince them that a move to Eastern Pennsylvania would be the smartest thing to do.

Two years later, after being backed by $15 million in federal grants, Wall Street West has yet to recruit a major Wall Street firm. It seems that amongst the mortgage crises and huge layoffs, large firms are hesitant to make a major move, like migrating its backup data center to Pennsylvania.

Wall Street West developers thought they had a sure thing. Launching after 9/11 and the 2003 blackout, they believed that disaster recovery would be the foremost priority on everyone’s list. What better place than Pennsylvania? If main New York operations were knocked out by a disaster, employees would still be close enough to reach backup data center offices. What they didn’t account for was the possibility of a mortgage crisis and in turn, a major fall in the U.S. economy.

With this being the case, Wall Street West has decided to focus their recruiting efforts less on the large firms but rather set their sights on those secondary companies that may provide services to financial firms.

Other factors could be deterring companies from moving to Pennsylvania. For one, eastern Pennsylvania is unfamiliar to many companies. This means that Wall Street West is going to have to invest in a strong marketing effort. John Boyd, a corporate relocation expert who advises companies about moves, said the region has much to offer, but is competing with a host of other areas, including upstate New York, Texas and Iowa.

In addition to recruiting, Wall Street West has also spent the last two years looking to complete a high-speed fiber optic network between Pennsylvania and New York. They recently awarded Level 3 Communications a contract to extend an existing fiber optic network through New Jersey to eastern Pennsylvania. Although work on the line will not begin until financial services agree to move to Pennsylvania, it is exciting nonetheless.

FindADataCenter.com is your trusted resource for available and secure data centers across the U.S. Search for a safe and well-protected data center by using the map on FindADataCenter.com or contact us for more information.

In an ever growing global economy companies are constantly changing due to industry demands. In the midst of all this change is the data center – a facility that keeps a business running smoothly by storing and managing servers, network and other computer equipment in a controlled environment. With minimal downtime it is the heart of a business’s operation.

But with so much on their plate, it is not uncommon that businesses forgo investing in necessary data center expenditures. With increased cost of real estate, evolving equipment needs and the increased cost to run a facility, it’s hard to blame them.

But with the outsourcing of software development and IT maintenance growing in popularity, why not outsource your data center? I’d like to outline a number of arguments that support the benefits of outsourcing.

Your Business is Always Changing
If you are growing and changing, chances are you have little time and money to invest in properly running a data center. Outsourcing is not only reliable, but provides the freedom businesses need to focus on business growth, rather than on their IT infrastructure.

Reliability
If you are outsourcing your data center, you can trust that the people running the data center are properly trained and experienced. Better yet, they are there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, making sure that your data is safe and your network is running smoothly.

Cost
Investment in an outsourced data center is a fixed cost, unlike working out of an in-house data center when time and money investments fluctuate and can account for as much as 70 percent of total business costs.

Customizization
You may be surprised to know that it is possible to customize your solutions in an outsourced data center. Businesses can specify their requirements right down to the tiny details.

Go Green
Sharing a data center means lowered costs, as well as the inclusion of greener technologies. This is because co-location facilities focus on providing the optimal power and cooling capabilities needed by high density servers.

Increase Your Bandwidth
You are bound to get excess bandwidth from an outsourced data center. This equates to high-speed lines that don’t slow down during peak loads.

FindADataCenter.com is your trusted resource for available data centers across the US, including details about individual data centers to inform you which might be best for your business. Contact us today to learn more.

Despite a shaky economy, data centers are prospering. Operators are reporting that demand for services has remained strong for the last three years. Why?

For one, we are a nation with an overabundance of data that needs to be stored, managed and protected. Companies have moved to using private companies to transmit this data, making the outsourced data center a popular option. Companies are also outsourcing because in the tight economy, it is more affordable than building their own data centers.

Among all this data center growth, Denver, Colo., has been the targeted city for building new data centers. While backing up data is a smart trend to follow, so is locating your data center to a city that is less vulnerable to natural and man-made disasters.

Most data centers in Denver are built to withstand earthquakes, plane crashes, etc. and take extreme security measures. Operations are monitored 24/7 and computer equipment is housed on raised floors, cooled and ventilated. Backup batteries also provide emergency power during utility outages.

Selecting a data center is more than determining location and amenities—it's about finding a total solution involving space selection as well as network connectivity.

FindADataCenter.com is your source for space.

Demand for data storage shows no signs of slowing down. With the boom in robust applications, file sharing, online video, and personal use of social networks and music sharing, IT managers are constantly on the lookout for alternatives to more servers and solutions to the escalating problems of an inefficient network and increased power consumption.

Companies as a whole are eager to reduce their energy consumption because not only are data centers leaving a large, undesirable carbon footprint, the current costs to run them are astronomical.

A more efficient network requires updated equipment along with an increase in bandwidth. With additional bandwidth, more data can be transported in a shorter amount of time, which in turn reduces energy costs. Doing so would increase a data center’s ‘power efficiency’, a term defined by the ratio between the required power and the delivered capacity.

With so much data being transferred to and from a data center, it’s inevitable that a business will experience some sort of bottleneck, which can further increase energy costs. One of the primary reasons to have a data center is to run applications. If  applications are running efficiently costs will be less. Even with efficient components, a reliable and robust network will be needed to carry the data.

Using a high-performance network can affect application performance and utilization dramatically. It leads to a significant increase in application performance with improvements of up to 300 percent, decreasing the bottleneck and thus costs.

In addition to increasing bandwidth, power efficiency can be increased by installing energy efficient servers, storage and switching elements, and creating a virtualized environment. With multiple networks working on fewer servers, fewer switches and interfaces will be needed. These technologies allow the consolidation of multiple applications onto fewer systems and less infrastructure, which in turn saves on the power consumed.

Improving a data center’s power efficiency is a lot of work and presents a challenge to many businesses. Doing so requires IT managers to look at every data center component as well as the strength of the network through the lens of “power efficiency”.

But choosing the right network, the right components and the right virtualization strategy can mean far lower energy bills and a smaller carbon footprint for the data center – steps that are best for business as well as for the planet.

FindADataCenter.com can help you find a data center with the power, space and connectivity your business needs. Contact us today to learn more.

With the increased need for reliable, secure and safe data centers, it’s not uncommon that an IT manager is looking to build a new data center. The first and possible most important element in the design and construction of a new data center is choosing the right location. Here are some tips for selecting the best location, which can help increase uptime and control costs.

Research Threats
If you have a location in mind, take some time to assess its risk for natural and man-made threats. The Federal Emergency Management Agency is a good resource for researching threats based on location.

Natural threats, like floods, tornados and fires easily come to mind. But what are man-made threats? These include accidents like chemical spills and plane crashes, as well as terrorist attacks, civil unrest and transit strikes. The U.S. Department of Transportation keeps good records of man-made threats and could prove to be an invaluable resource when choosing a data center location.

How Far Can You Go?
Surveys indicate that the number one reason for new data center construction is the need for excellent disaster recovery. If this is indeed the reason you are building a new data center, as a failover site, you’ll need to figure out how far away you can put the data center. In all likelihood, it will have to be close to the current data center. But the new one can have better features, like better access to power and being in areas that are less susceptible to harm or bad weather.

Foreign Soil
With so many companies going global, the appeal to put a data center in another country is growing. But before you do, check that the local currency is stable. Also, educate yourself on the government’s policies that would affect immigration, as well as employee benefits and political stability.

The Right Connections
A reliable network is extremely important for a facility that collects and distributes large amounts of data. Find out what technology services are available in the area in the event you need rapid recovery of IT assets or IT services to help in data center management. A location with low risk, cheap power and no IT services should be crossed off the list unless you're prepared to go it alone. It will also be harder to replace equipment or get fuel quickly in remote areas that do not have easy access to railroads, highways or airports.

Cost
Cost to build a data center will of course include the real estate, but don’t forget the details like raised floors or relocating employees. To combat rising energy costs, use the U.S. Department of Energy’s statistics to narrow the list to regions with least expensive power.

FindADataCenter.com is your trusted resource for available and secure data centers across the U.S. Search for a safe and well-protected data center by using the map on FindADataCenter.com or contact us for more information.

Occupancy rates of high tech markets are at an all-time high thanks to the rise of corporate IT and Internet requirements. Demand for data storage is so high that heavyweights like Google, Microsoft and Yahoo are moving to more distant locations in an effort to find enough land as well as the hydroelectric energy needed to cool their servers.

Last year more than 670,000 feet of data center space was constructed, compared to just over 410,000 the year before. Not yet through the first half of 2008, 672,000 feet of data center space is slated to be built.

With single digits vacancies being recorded, it’s more than likely that if you are looking to get into or build a new data center, you’ll have to wait. Now that data center need comes from all industries, including Wall Street, enterprise, the government and health care, demand far outweighs supply.

Demand is increasing due to a number of factors. These include disaster recovery failover, document storage for corporate compliance and online video, gaming and social networking. Another reason is cost. Companies are starting to realize that there is a strong cost advantage to co-locating their data center.

If your organization is looking to migrate to a new data center, visit FindADataCenter.com. We offer information on over 800 data centers. Use our data center search engine or contact us today to find the data center that is perfect for you.