Considerations When Choosing a Data Colocation Center And How to Avoid Issues During Data Center Construction

When businesses are choosing between leasing external servers and running an internal data center, they also have another choice. This choice is colocation. A data colocation center offers businesses the opportunity to have their equipment housed in their own personal server rooms. However, it is important to note that not these centers are created equal.

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If you are shopping for a data colocation center, rate the potential candidates based off of the following evaluation points.

Power Management

After data center construction is completed, the center is at the mercy of the local utility companies for electricity. This means that blackouts and brownouts can cause a disruption in the servers, and they can shut down when you do not expect them to. Thus, data corruption and downtime can occur. Although IT departments can use tools such as UPSs (uninterruptible power supplies), their job is not to make sure servers function. Instead, these departments work to ensure the systems can completely shut down.

Data colocation centers use onsite generators to ensure that the equipment continues to run no matter how long the power is interrupted. When multiple generators are used, power availability becomes more stable. Purchasing and maintaining multiple generators can be too expensive for many businesses, so an in-house server will always be at a high risk of the loss of power.

Before hardware can be housed in these centers, they must first be constructed. Unfortunately, issues can come up even during the construction phase. The good news is that there are ways these mistakes can be avoided.

Most of the construction problems are linked to functionality of the data center and can include:

• Changes in design
• Substitutions for products or materials
• Complex systems are not properly integrated

These problems can be avoided by implementing these strategies during the construction phase.

Get a Representative for the Owner

At the beginning of the project, every party that is involved in the construction of the data center must understand that the objectives of the owner of the data colocation center may greatly differ from the objectives of the builder.

While the owner may want a center that meets the needs of the business and is cost effective, the builder will likely want to make sure the project meets budget and schedule requirements. This means the uptime of the data center is not a concern of the builder.

This means that the representative of the owner or the owner will need to work with the requirements of the project, as well as establish a schedule that will include enough time for complete commission. Delays in construction should not be allowed to cause the commissioning to be compromised. Adding penalties for construction delays is one way to prevent the issue from occurring.

Have Enough Time for Commissioning

Problems that are related to delays in construction can occur when the first construction timeline does not have enough time included for testing at the 4^th and 5^th levels. Teams that are not experienced in the intricacies of data center commissioning are usually susceptible to this type of issue.

Builders can also contribute to this issue by using the period for commissioning as a type of buffer in case the project begins to run late. A way to avoid this is to engage the primary contractor and the Commissioning Agent early on when creating a development schedule.

The moral of the story is that both the construction and the operation of data colocation centers are very important to ensure businesses can use these centers to store their data equipment. However, the commission of the project is essential so the system can operate in everyday conditions.