While there may be some benefit to housing your enterprise data in-house, the cons will typically outweigh the benefits. The problem is that it costs a lot of money to get your data needs met -- and it’s not just the money you’ll spend now. It can be hard to predict the ways not only how your organization’s data needs will change, but to predict on a large scale how your scalability needs will shift. Data needs like large-scale file sharing, streaming, remote worker collaborations, e-commerce, and most importantly top-tier security.
That’s why it’s so important to evaluate if you can build your own on-premises data center now and scale it to the size you need later -- or if you’d be better off using a colocation center. Here are some things to consider before you
Data Centers require physical space and ability to scale if needed
Gone are the days when a server room could go in the empty closet at your office. Nowadays whether it’s a colocation center, an on-premises data center, you’re going to need decent-sized square footage to get the job done. There are many questions to ask when addressing enterprise needs for a data center.
That’s not even getting into scalability. As we said in the intro, your data needs may change over time and you will need the flexibility for scale. That size requirement can be a huge impediment when you’re looking to scale up. If your custom deployment is not set up to scale properly then you might run into potential roadblocks that may inhibit organizational growth and mission-critical operations. If you’re a direct to consumer brand for example, you would want to the bandwidth to be flexible as well as have enough dedicated server space to properly scale up your enterprise deployment. Our expert engineering team can help you determine the right footprint for your deployment.
Data Centers require lots of power and cooling
Our Texas 2 colocation data center is built with the power requirements and dedicated cooling needed for high-performance computing. Our world-class data center also features a chilled water-cooling system with dual independent water feeds to meet the cooling needs of any environment.
Those features are integral for any large -scale data operation. If you decide to build an on-premises data center, you’re going to need to figure out your cooling and power needs before you build. That means planning for the future. If it turns out that you were conservative and your needs outpace your capability, it’s not as simple as just getting a bigger energy bill -- you’ll have to totally overhaul your buildings power setup.
Colocation data centers can often represent a reasonable alternative for companies whose data needs may change
We built our Texas 2 data center so that organizations would have easy access from Austin. We’ve seen that many businesses have found it a convenient alternative to creating their own data center from the ground up. Our dedicated team will assist you every step of the way to configure your custom deployment needs.
One of the big benefits of going with a colocation data center is the ability to scale enterprise and organizational needs. Since many colocation centers have large power and cooling capacity, it can be as simple as letting your representative know that you need more. That’s so much easier than engineering your own space just because your needs may have changed. At Data Foundry, by partnering and choosing us as your colocation provider, we will be able to scale your business to meet your enterprise needs.
Are on-premises data centers scalable? They can be. Do we recommend that route? Probably not. Check out our Texas 2 data center today and see how great we’ve made our data centers.
