Contact Sales Login
Contact Sales

Month: May 2023

6 Factors To Consider When Choosing A Data Center

Posted on by yotta

The benefits of colocation are plenty and proven, but how do you go about selecting the data center to house your critical IT infrastructure? All data centers in India are not alike. Making an uninformed choice can cost businesses substantial downtime, data loss, and other burdensome implications. That’s why it is imperative you find the right data center for your colocation needs.

Key points to consider when you’re choosing a colocation data center:

1. Availability (Uptime): It’s important to factor in availability, which is the amount of guaranteed uptime provided by the data center. To ensure that business-critical applications and services remain always available, choose a provider that offers a high uptime guarantee. The best option would be a data center with a Tier III or Tier IV rating. Consider facilities that offer at least 99.9% uptime, however, if your organisation requires higher availability, look for data centers with 99.99% uptime or more. Popular Tier rating providers include Uptime Institute and Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), which define the standards for data center operations.

2. Security: The colocation service provider must maintain strict physical security measures, including access controls, biometric authentication, round-the-clock cameras, and secure fencing. The data center must also implement several layers of network security to protect against cyber-attacks. These can include firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and DDoS protection systems. There should also be a team of security experts to monitor the network continuously and respond to any potential security threats immediately.

Logical separation is another essential factor to consider when choosing a data center in India. Some only host the clients’ equipment, while others provide more advanced solutions like cloud and managed IT. In the case of the latter, determine if the data center provides logical separation i.e. data and applications of one client are not accessible to another that shares the same infrastructure.

3. Redundancy: Enquire about the type of redundancy used in the data center, such as N+1, N+2, 2N, and 2N+1, with 2N+1 being the highest form of redundancy. The most crucial component to duplicate is the power supply. The colocation data center facility must have redundant power sources, including backup generators and an uninterrupted power supply. There must also be effective and redundant cooling systems that ensure appropriate temperature and humidity levels are maintained for servers.

4. Scalability: Choose a provider that offers flexible and scalable solutions, like the ability to easily add or remove rack space or increase power density, in line with business requirements. Scalability must extend to network, connectivity, and equipment. In the case of business expansion, the data center must be capable of offering sufficient infrastructure and space. By working with a provider with a proven track record of scalable infrastructure and a willingness to work with enterprises on their growth plans, businesses can ensure they have the resources to meet their evolving IT needs.

5. Compliance: It is essential that colocation providers comply with local data protection and privacy regulations. ISO certifications indicate that the colocation provider has implemented a robust information security management system and adheres to industry best practices for data security and privacy. It is advised to select a provider who is Uptime Institute certified and ensure to verify the certification. Additionally, make sure to ask if the data center will support third-party audits, in case they are applicable to your business.

6. Cost: Ascertain the recurring cost to be paid to the colocation data center provider for hosting equipment and providing power, cooling, and network connectivity. Find out if there are any one-time fees applicable to set up the infrastructure for hosting the enterprise’s equipment. If there are, check if providing power to your servers and ensuring network connectivity are covered. Additional services may be offered by some data centers in India such as remote hands support or equipment installation, at an added cost. When you’re evaluating the costs, the level of service and reliability provided by the data center must be considered.

Maximise IT Infrastructure With A Trusted Colocation Partner
For enterprises seeking a secure and cost-effective solution to manage IT infrastructure, colocation data center is a suitable option. By leveraging the resources of a colocation provider, organisations can access state-of-the-art data centers without the burden of constructing and maintaining on-prem facilities.

Yotta NM1 data center in Mumbai offers a range of features to ensure that business infrastructure is housed in an optimal environment. The facility offers 7200 rack capacity, 50MW IT power, 4 dedicated fiber paths, and a design PUE of 1.4. The data center is also the first and only facility in India to be validated with a Tier IV Gold Certificate for Operational Sustainability (TCOS) from Uptime Institute. Spread across 300,000 sq. ft, Yotta D1 data center in Greater Noida is located near major innovation clusters and delivers industry-best uptime, connectivity, and fault tolerance. The facility offers 5000 rack capacity, 28.8MW IT Power, and a design PUE of 1.4.

Choosing the right data center partner is crucial for businesses to ensure their IT infrastructure is secure, efficient, and cost-effective. With Yotta’s range of benefits, businesses can trust that their infrastructure is housed in an optimal environment.

Best Practices For Data Center Migration 

Posted on by yotta

As an enterprise continues to grow, there may come a time when its IT infrastructure is unable to accommodate the rising demands. This is majorly the case with on-premises data centers, which require significant hardware investments and maintenance to keep up with the increasing need for computing power, storage, etc. These challenges can be addressed by undertaking migration, preferably to a colocation provider.   

Migrating or colocating a data center essentially involves the transfer of IT infrastructure from captive sites to third-party colocation facilities. The intended destination may also be a newly constructed data center, however, with the widespread adoption of the Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) model, enterprises are increasingly looking at multi-tenant colocation data centers that offer rented space, IT equipment, and bandwidth.  

Data center migration can be a complex process. There are several steps to it, from planning, determining resource requirements, and designing the new environment to testing the plan and verifying its success. It is crucial to identify the duration of downtime, if any, that can be reasonably incurred during the migration. This will determine the actual migration process.  

Data Center Migration Best Practices 

1. Migration strategy: It’s important to define the needs and objectives of the migration. An enterprise may choose to build a larger data center, however, this involves significant capital expense (CapEx). On the other hand, renting or leasing, as is the case with colocation, reduces costs significantly. Similarly, the enterprise can achieve interoperability by adopting a hybrid approach that aligns different workloads to a combination of suitable infrastructure platforms.

2. Devise a comprehensive plan: The enterprise must create a plan outlining the project scope, timeframe, resource allocation, risk management, and communication strategies. It should also lay out the critical applications, services, and data that need to be migrated and prioritise them as per the business needs. 

3. Identify potential risks: Next, potential risks, such as power and cooling limitations, hardware and software compatibility issues, and security concerns should be identified. Addressing these challenges will help minimise the risk of downtime during the migration, while ensuring that systems are not exposed to cyber threats during the process. 

4. Training and support: The staff who will be working with the new infrastructure must be provided necessary training and support. This will entail training on how to use the new systems, any new process that will be implemented, and providing support during the transition period. These efforts can help in a seamless migration. 

5. Test: It is important that a proper test strategy is in place. The test emphasis should be on verifying the functionality and operability of infrastructure and applications. Any issues identified need to be resolved prior to the migration. The testing must be aimed at ensuring that applications continue to function smoothly, without any adverse impact on the business.

Undoubtedly, moving a data center is a complex task that requires careful consideration. Nevertheless, if your enterprise adequately plans, communicates, and incorporates the best practices, it can prepare for a smooth transition. 

Embracing Colocation For Optimised Infrastructure 

Data center colocation is becoming an increasingly popular migration strategy among businesses. Here, companies can place their hardware in a multi-tenant data center facility operated completely by the service provider. The colocation provider offers a secure, and well-connected environment with power, cooling, and security to ensure uptime and data protection while delivering high levels of efficiency and uptime. According to Knowledge Sourcing Intelligence (KSI), India’s colocation market is expected to reach $3,427.784 million (Rs. 281.3 billion) by 2027. 

Colocation eliminates the need for companies to build and maintain their data center infrastructure. They instead need to only pay for the space and services on an as-needed basis, which significantly brings down the overall capital expenditure. Colocation data center providers also have well-trained staff who can help enterprises with migration planning, implementation, and ongoing maintenance. This frees up the internal IT resources to focus on other strategic projects. Yotta’s data centers in India offer colocation services with multi-layer security, redundant network, and cloud connectivity. Enterprises can host their critical IT infrastructure with 100% uptime in high-quality, fault-tolerant facilities.  

Data center migration can seem like a challenging process, however, if you follow the best practices listed above, your enterprise will be able to minimise downtime, mitigate risks, and ensure a successful migration. Having a clear migration plan outlining the steps involved is essential, as well as identifying potential risks, and setting timelines and responsibilities. Testing, validation, and monitoring help in ensuring a smooth transition.  

Making The Right Choice For Colocation   Choosing the right data center for colocation is important. A reliable center will ensure that your critical infrastructure and applications continue to run optimally with minimum downtime. When selecting a colocation data center, ensure it has an uptime certification from Uptime Institute or the TIA-942. Additionally, look for one that offers end-to-end capabilities that ensure your infrastructure is always available. By selecting a reliable colocation data center, you can ensure a successful migration with better outcomes with regard to cost savings, security, and improved connectivity.