EDITOR’S QUESTION
These data centres typically cater to
customers with a core need for external
network connectivity.
BART VAN DER SLOOT, MANAGING
DIRECTOR LEASEWEB NETWORK,
LEASEWEB NETWORK GLOBAL
eing a provider of hybrid
cloud hosting services,
open networking
solutions that provide
connectivity between
Leaseweb and other
cloud platforms are vitally important for
us and our customers.
B
This is because a hybrid multi-cloud
framework provides a business with the
flexibility to move workloads between
vendors and environments as required,
as well as switch out cloud services and
vendors for any reason.
In our experience, the ability to offer this
depends on five key criteria when either
selecting or modernising a data centre:
1) availability and stability of power and
temperature, 2) security (physical and
logical), 3) flexibility (to grow – or shrink),
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Issue 10
4) accessibility and operational support
and 5) network connectivity.
With regard to network connectivity, it’s
important to differentiate between internal
connectivity (this could concern different
racks of one customer, or be between a
customer and their partners or suppliers)
and external connectivity, such as the
presence of telecom carriers, network
service providers or Internet exchanges
to services like Internet access, (virtual)
private networks, or public peering.
Bearing this in mind, we see a wide variety
in approaches to connectivity.
At one end of the scale we see data
centres that provide space and power, and
for those customers who may want to, the
ability to install their own cross connects
between their racks, as well as to partners.
At the other end of the spectrum, we also
see data centres that aim to provide all
interconnection services themselves – not
only cross connects between racks, but
also Internet exchange, Internet access or
international private network services.
The risk with selecting such a one-
stop-shop is that it has the potential
to drastically limit the flexibility to
move elsewhere, as already explained.
Additionally, once sufficient customers
are present and interconnected,
there’s a tendency to raise prices for
interconnection services. It’s a trend we’ve
observed in many data centres around
the world, especially in the US and Asia
Pacific where the number of data centre
providers were initially very small. For
example, whereas the price of a cross
connect may be less than £20 per month
in some European data centres, it can
easily ramp up to over £300 per month in
some US data centres.
Therefore, when selecting a data
centre, our advice would be to think
carefully before putting all your ‘rack and
connection’ eggs in one basket. Modern
data centres that make provision for
hybrid frameworks using open networking
solutions are in the best position to
support flexibility when it comes to both
workloads and cost.
www.intelligentdatacentres.com