Once you have made the choice to collocate, considering your organization’s needs is the first step in selecting a Colocation provider.   Below is a list of questions to get you started on determining what requirements you have of your datacenter.

• How much and what kind of support will you require?  Make sure that if remote assistance is needed that those services are included in the pricing you obtain.  Oftentimes datacenters charge for basic support like, drive replacement, or physically rebooting a system.  Datacate offers a range of free support included in each of its packages.
• What are your bandwidth requirements and does the provider allow for burstable speeds?   Let’s face it; bandwidth demand is not a constant.  As your operation’s traffic flow changes over the course of the day, will your datacenter give you the flexibility to meet demands?  Datacate’s generous bandwidth packages allow for burstable speeds of up to 1Gbps allowing for sudden increases in bandwidth demand.
• How often will you require access to your collocated systems?  You need to be sure that the datacenter you choose allows for 24/7 secured access for its customers.  It’s your system; you shouldn’t have to wait for access windows or office hours.  Datacate’s state of the art Keri Systems® electronic card access systems and biometric hand scanner entry points give our customers all-day access to their machines without sacrificing security.
• What are your space and power consumption requirements?  Need help figuring out the numbers?  Datacate’s experienced team of engineers and technicians can help provide you with the numbers based on your systems.  Need a custom system built?  We do that too!
• What are your security requirements?  We employ 24/7 surveillance monitoring with motion recording, full alarm security with unauthorized entry detection, and we are located within 3 minutes of the Rancho Cordova police department.  All server cabinets are locked and require a key to access.  For clients that require additional security, we also offer caged cabinets for increased protection.

In addition to the above, we highly recommend scheduling a tour of any facility you are interested in.  Meet the staff that will be handling your account on both a customer service level (Account Manager) and a technical level (Network Engineer).  Have them show you the ease of access to your secured site, and have the staff elaborate on their back-up and disaster recovery systems.  Datacate offers tours M-F from 8:00 AM to 4:00 PM.  Call or click today to schedule an appointment.

In the end you want to make sure your choice in a datacenter fulfills all of your organization’s needs as well as provides you with the excellent customer service you should expect.