Renting knowledge heart house in a colocation facility – the place a number of firms deploy IT gear – is usually a cost-effective option to achieve entry to knowledge heart infrastructure with out having to spend money on a complete personal knowledge heart.
However knowledge heart rental prices – and the cash saved versus personal knowledge facilities – can differ considerably relying on elements like which sort of colocation bundle a enterprise purchases. If you wish to get the most important bang in your colocation buck, it’s essential to buy round strategically for the fitting set of colocation providers and choices.
To supply steering, right here’s a take a look at methods to optimize knowledge heart rental pricing.
1. Select a Low-Value Area
One of many easiest methods to cut back spending on knowledge heart leases is to decide on knowledge facilities situated in areas the place knowledge heart house prices the least. Knowledge heart rental costs, which are sometimes measured by way of dollars-per-kilowatt, can differ by an element of ten or extra between completely different elements of the world.
Maybe surprisingly, areas with the most important concentrations of information facilities have a tendency to supply essentially the most cost-effective charges, largely attributable to economies of scale. It is typically cheaper to supply energy, community connectivity, and different assets cost-efficiently in areas with many knowledge facilities. This offsets the upper value of land and better demand inside these areas.
So, if you need a cut price on knowledge heart lease, begin your purchasing in areas like Silicon Valley and northern Virginia, that are dense with knowledge facilities. You’ll usually discover decrease charges in locations comparable to these than you’ll in elements of the world not generally known as knowledge heart hubs.
2. Consolidate Servers
One other key technique for chopping knowledge heart rental prices is to consolidate servers. Server consolidation reduces the whole variety of servers it’s worthwhile to deploy, which in flip minimizes the house it’s worthwhile to lease.
The problem, after all, is that consolidating servers is usually a advanced course of, and companies don’t all the time have the means to optimize their infrastructure footprint in a single day. However when you deploy extra servers than essential, they successfully turn out to be a type of technical debt that prices increasingly the longer you retain them in service.
Lengthy-term colocation contracts usually provide decrease charges, however sacrifice flexibility if your enterprise wants or regional necessities change. Picture: Alamy.
3. Consolidate Knowledge Facilities
Past consolidating particular person servers, you can even consolidate knowledge facilities – that means you may take workloads that presently exist in a number of services and migrate them so they’re all hosted in only one location.
This will lower your expenses on knowledge heart lease as a result of it will increase the quantity of house it’s worthwhile to buy in a single facility – and basically, the extra you purchase, the decrease you’ll pay relative to the house you get.
A problem of information heart consolidation is that it may probably enhance latency for customers in places who’re removed from the information heart your organization makes use of. However it could be doable to mitigate that problem by paying for community optimization options, like interconnection, which are likely to value lower than renting house in a number of knowledge facilities.
4. Negotiate Knowledge Heart Hire
As with many enterprise purchases, the checklist worth for knowledge heart lease is usually not the bottom worth that colocation operators will settle for. To economize, contemplate negotiating.
The extra IT gear it’s a must to deploy, the extra profitable you’ll doubtless be in locking in a rental low cost. Giant knowledge heart operators is probably not keen to supply reductions to companies with only a few racks to deploy, however these with dozens have buying energy that they need to leverage to barter.
5. Keep away from Pointless Providers
Along with offering house inside a knowledge heart, knowledge heart rental agreements may additionally embody providers. These can vary broadly, from gadgets like “white-glove” help in server setup and monitoring to particular community connectivity choices.
Buying such providers as a part of your knowledge heart rental settlement could make sense when you really need the providers. However when you don’t, and in the event that they’re bundled into the rental settlement by default, you find yourself paying for belongings you aren’t utilizing. In that case, take a look at another knowledge heart supplier, or ask for a reduction from the checklist worth.
6. Settle for Lengthy-Time period Contracts
Unsurprisingly, longer-term colocation leases usually include decrease charges – so the longer you’re keen to decide to renting house at a selected facility, the higher you may optimize your prices.
The apparent draw back to a long-term contract is that it reduces flexibility and prevents you from shifting to a distinct knowledge heart if higher charges turn out to be accessible elsewhere, or if it’s worthwhile to migrate your servers to a brand new area. But when flexibility isn’t a precedence, lock within the cheaper lease that comes with long-term contracts.
Maximizing Your Knowledge Heart Funding
Knowledge heart rental prices symbolize a good portion of many organizations’ IT budgets. By implementing the methods outlined above – selecting cost-effective places, consolidating infrastructure, negotiating contracts, avoiding pointless providers, and contemplating longer-term commitments – companies can considerably scale back their colocation bills.
Keep in mind that the best strategy combines a number of methods tailor-made to your particular enterprise wants.
Frequently reviewing your knowledge heart necessities and rental agreements can assist make sure you’re getting one of the best worth whereas sustaining the efficiency and reliability your operations demand.
