Data Foundry Blog - Colocation

The year 2020 gave us great insight into the future of remote work. Working from home with a remote office became the new normal as COVID-19 forced us to find new ways to get our jobs done. So, what happens now that office space leases are coming up for renewal? Will enterprises renew those office leases or is the remote office here to stay?

Here’s why dedicated office spaces working together with remote work environments might be how enterprises approach work in the future.

A data center commission is a meticulous process that is essential to ensuring the quality and reliability of a new data center. Because a data center commission is often announced just before a new data center opens, some may think it is a quick process that starts as soon as construction has finished. While the final stage of a data center commission is conducted after the completion of construction, the reality is that the commissioning process can be iterative and lengthy -- sometimes starting as much as six months before completion.

Colocation data centers are an effective way for businesses to reduce capital expense by sharing building infrastructure, physical security, and mechanical equipment. That said, all those experiences aren’t created equally. (Curious on what makes one data center different from another? Here’s a blog we did on what to look for in a reliable colocation data center.) For you to have the best possible experience, there are some things you need to do first.

IT disasters can happen suddenly and quickly if your organization is not prepared but failure to plan for any issues or outages could impact your business operations at a critical level. Disasters happen, and while you can’t hope to avoid them all -- you definitely can plan to mitigate those disasters as much as possible.

With flexible work solutions continuing to enable employees to work from home, rethinking how companies will re-integrate their employees back to the office is top of mind. While some companies will continue with a flexible and remote workforce, commonly referred to as a hybrid model, others will embrace an opportunity to provide employees with powerful internet, readily accessible services, and a collaborative in-person environment, perhaps just a little differently.

As we hit the ground running in 2021, we reflect back on what we learned in 2020. Last year presented numerous challenges that greatly impacted the IT world, predominantly shaped by the pandemic. With more and more people required to work from home, supporting a distributed remote workforce was top of mind for everyone and will remain so for much of the new year. This is why ensuring your business is set up for success to support a remote workforce in 2021 is at the top of our IT trends watchlist for 2021.

2020 has shown us the problem some enterprises faced when pivoting to remote work environments. No matter your industry, we’ve all had to get creative with our solutions. Whether it’s meeting virtually with clients or working remotely, all of these solutions require a stable network and a reliable data center that can handle all IT operational tasks.

What are remote hands services and why should enterprises utilize this managed service? We’re glad you asked. If you’re an enterprise looking to scale, it’s going to completely change the way you think about IT -- especially when figuring out ways to have uninterrupted service during a pandemic. First though, let’s start with the basics.

As the role of the data center in the modern enterprise has evolved, so too has the process of selecting a colocation provider. While data centers were once only in charge of server housing and infrastructure maintenance, today they are at the core of hybrid cloud strategies. As data centers become integral to the day-to-day operations and long-term success of today’s businesses, how can organizations make the right decision the first time?

If IT infrastructure was crucial for digital business initiatives before, 2020 has effectively certified that it is now at the very core of enterprise continuity and success. As the enterprise footprint evolves with ongoing remote work, cloud usage and data dependence, connectivity, and availability are serving as the backbone of operations, ensuring all disparate business elements are adequately empowered.