Data Center (Photo credit: bandarji)
Colocation facilities should be equipped with a completely redundant power infrastructure. One of the main reasons why enterprises and medium-sized businesses partner with data center facilities is due to disaster recovery planning. The severe affects of natural disasters over recent years have prompted companies to look toward practical and effective disaster recovery solutions. Many companies deal in large amounts of data on a daily basis. Backing up such vast amounts of information requires investment in expensive IT equipment. That is where data centers and colocation facilities come into play.
A colocation facility houses IT equipment, which that is the backbone the core operations of many companies. Although significant investment is required in purchasing such equipment, another cost is one of continuous power supply. In fact, many colocation and data center providers are being built or upgraded to be more energy efficient due to rising energy costs. However, an important consideration when choosing a data center or colocation partner is the availability of continuous power.
Analyzing the Power Infrastructure of a Colocation Facility
A major aspect that comes to mind when considering the power infrastructure of any facility is that of redundancy. Redundancy is defined as the ability of a facility to keep functioning even if any one or more critical units fail.
The power infrastructure is divided into various portions. Distribution lines are put in place all over the facility. Some of these are connected to a power grid that provides a majority of the energy. The system also incorporates generators as well as UPS units.
Within the best colocation facilities, distribution lines are encased within reinforced steel and cement to provide protection against physical damage. Multiple units of generators as well as UPS units are used to provide backup power in case the main grid suffers any outages. These protocols also deal with any power surges or drops, as those can severely damage IT equipment. Backup generators provide power in case of an outage. UPS units, on the other hand, are required to smooth out the transition from the main power line to the generators. Multiple units are a part of the redundant structure. Even if one or more of the units fail, the rest have the capability to handle the load.
Every colocation facility has different ratings in regards to the duration of power outage that they are able to withstand. There are some facilities that have their own independent power stations as well. Choosing a quality facility with a 99.9% uptime guarantee is a smart option for most companies. Especially for those that deal with time sensitive or data subject to regulation.
The power infrastructure of any colocation facility is one of its core elements. It is the reason many of them exist and are so popular. Servers need to be online 24/7/365 for a company to be able to back-up its data consistently and also perform daily operations. Downtime can be a huge blow to a company, so it should be minimized. Consequently, when choosing a colocation facility, it is important to analyze its power infrastructure.
Greg Seiter writes articles about data centers and colocation in the Austin area. He believes that using data center service is a wise choice for many businesses. Greg believes companies should always think about customizable solutions that are tailored to meet their needs.
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