Provided by Creative Data Concepts Limited, Inc.

Businesses choose to colocate their equipment in a data center for many reasons. One reason is access to the management services offered by the provider. A provider managing a data center can offer services to its clients that would otherwise be inaccessible to the client. These services include enhanced security, readily available and expandable bandwidth, enhanced technical support and an overall broader experience base. Many providers will customize a management plan for each client tailoring the level of service provided to the needs and budget of the client. In most cases, clients colocating in a well-managed data center will never need to access their equipment directly. Even though it should not be necessary to access your equipment on a regular basis, most colocation providers will arrange access as part of their service offerings.

Once you decide to colocate your equipment, it must take into consideration the fact that you might have the need to maintain you equipment. Typical needs include:

• Equipment reboots
• Hardware replacements
• Hardware upgrades
• Operating system security updates, patches and enhancements
• Routine file system maintenance
• Routine database maintenance
• Software updates and patches
• Backups

So how do you determine exactly what your business needs? How do you accomplish the necessary tasks? The key is working with a colocation provider that provides the tools necessary for effective and efficient colocation management. Important questions to ask include:

• Do your colocation services include remote power management?
• Do you provide a way to monitor equipment responsiveness with automatic power cycling for unresponsive gear?
• Do your colocation services include real-time MRTG data access?
• Can your bandwidth monitoring services notify use when preset thresholds are reached?
• Can your staff perform scheduled maintenance for our equipment?
• Do you offer remote console access (KVM over IP)?
• Can your staff provide on-demand IT services?
• Do you have access to knowledgeable programmers who can assist in application troubleshooting and maintenance?
• Do you offer security auditing and vulnerability assessments?

Part of the beauty of colocation is the access to professional IT services and infrastructure that would otherwise be unavailable. So relax, let the professionals do what they do best and get back to doing what you do best - growing you business!