As the world depends more and more on hosted services the importance of datacenter uptime is almost always the most important criteria. One item that is often overlooked when selecting a colocation facility is the distance your technical team is from your servers and hardware. Being close to your colocation provider can mean the difference between a small incident and a major service outage if you cannot physically reach your equipment when you need to. Distance is one of the top 5 key elements you should consider when selecting a colocation facility.
NetSource provides colocation services to Chicago, the Chicago suburbs, and many International clients. NetSource’s datacenter is located in Naperville, IL and is less than 10 minutes from over 50 cities like Aurora, Oswego, Plainfield, Wheaton, Lisle, Warrenville, and many other western and far western suburb cities. When selecting a colocation provider we recommend circling a radius around the datacenter and making sure your technical team isn’t more than about 15 miles from the center.
The benefits to being close to your colocation provider are mostly obvious, but there are a few hidden reasons that we have noticed over the years outlining the importance of being local. Companies and technicians that are close to their equipment tend to make more of an effort to visit the colocation facility and check on their equipment. Based on 16 years of running a datacenter NetSource understands this is a huge benefit to the client because of the factors we will cover below……
1) You will visit more often – Yes, like we mentioned above if you are close to your colo provider you visit more. When you visit more you can check on the health of your equipment more often. Items like raid failures or unusual noises your equipment may be making can usually help you avoid issues much larger down the line. This means that businesses who visit regularly usually have less catastrophic issues over the course of a few years at a datacenter.
2) You will become closer to your colocation provider – Yes, this is another one that really can help you out in the long term. When you visit your colocation facility more often you meet the staff at the datacenter and are usually on a first name basis with the technicians working there. This really can be beneficial at a later date if you need something done and cannot drive to the datacenter yourself. While being a stranger usually means things are going good it is always beneficial to meet the team at the datacenter in case you need a favor down the road.
3) Uptime – While the datacenter you are hosting with may be 99.997% or better it might be your equipment that is having issues. With colocation your personal hardware is usually not the responsibility of the colocation provider. So being 5 minutes from your facility could mean the difference between a small incident and a much larger one. Of course there are times when you need to be located far away (like DR) but your main center should be in close proximity to your technical staff.
4) Stress – Have you ever been stressed out because of a server emergency and also been stuck in traffic? It is not a great combination for sure. Just the peace of mind knowing you are 5 minutes from your colo provider can really help you control the stress of being an IT professional. Don’t forget about the 3 am issue where you need to drive in. Do you really want an hour drive at 3 am? Location is everything when time matters. Most people learn the hard way that being close to your hardware is usually worth paying a little more.
NetSource offers colocation services based out of our datacenter located in Naperville, IL. Please setup a tour of our facility and time your drive in. Compare this with other facilities you might consider. NetSource is one of the most centrally located datacenters for towns in the western and far western suburbs like Aurora, Oswego, Plainfield, Wheaton, Lisle, Warrenville, St. Charles, North Aurora, and many more suburbs. NetSource’s datacenter is full SSAE16 Type II, PCI, and Safe Harbor compliant and hosts business of all sizes. Call us at 630-778-1212 to talk to NetSource or visit our homepage at www.netsource.com.