Equinix Cloud Exchange
Equinix Cloud Exchange is an advanced interconnection solution that enables on-demand, direct network connectivity to multiple cloud providers in major metro areas throughout the world. As more and more companies shift to Azure and hybrid cloud, connectivity to the Equinix Cloud Exchange is crucial for your company to stay nimble. The Cloud Connectiv team can integrate your infrastructure with any cloud provider (Azure, AWS, Oracle, and Google) on the Equinix Cloud Exchange. Equinix Cloud Exchange provides virtualized, private connections that are as scalable, on-demand, and easy-to-get as the cloud services they support. Multiple bandwidth options are available. And while it can sometimes take weeks to provision and configure network connections to cloud services, with Equinix Cloud Exchange, your cloud connection can be up and running in mere hours.
Connected Globally, Quickly, Securely
Reductions in operational expenditure and the ability to focus your IT team on your core business, means that data centers offer organizations the ability to maximize the potential within their businesses. Do businesses have a team where people are available 24/7/365 to re-boot servers when they fail at 3 a.m.? Colocation companies specialize in data center and network services so businesses don’t have to.
For financial directors and IT directors, colocation provides the perfect win-win scenario, providing cost savings and delivering state-of-the-art infrastructure. When comparing the capabilities of a standard server room to a colocation solution, an assessment of the power alone demonstrates the gap between in-house solutions and utilizing the expertise of a specialist.
While many in-house server rooms have access to power and may well have air conditioning and battery back-ups, this system does not fully protect infrastructure. Organizations need to consider whether their power solution also include diverse power feeds and distribution paths, with dual generator systems that can be re-fuelled while in operation as well as onsite fuel reserves. Do they have diverse cooling systems, with UPS support in place? Who is monitoring their power and battery levels 24/7? Do they have a 100 percent uptime solution?
Connected Globally, Quickly, Securely
When it comes to connectivity, colocation means a business is connected globally, quickly and securely. We find that many companies with onsite server rooms often do not have onsite access to a resilient Internet connection, nor do they have dedicated personnel monitoring traffic flow to ensure they always remain on.
Colocation enables organizations to benefit from faster networking and resilient connectivity at a fairly low price – delivering 100 mbps of bandwidth might be hard at an office location and trying to create a redundant solution is often financially unviable. Data centers are connected to multiple transit providers and also have large bandwidth pipes meaning that businesses often benefit from a better service for less cost.
Sustaining Your Infrastructure
With these considerations in mind, some organizations start to look to cloud solutions rather than colocation. However, cloud does not provide organizations with a fully auditable system and the ability to have full control over their own infrastructure. Colocation often enables businesses to avoid spending money on storage bills in the cloud as it is often cheaper to store information on their own servers.
From the periodic necessary replacement of UPS batteries, to the maintenance and testing of UPS systems, the hidden costs of sustaining your infrastructure to optimal levels can be surprising. As part of a standard colocation solution, organizations instantly benefit from high level security with ISO 27001 accredited processes, onsite security teams and infrastructure.
Additionally, data centers have the time, resources and impetus to continually invest in and research green technologies. This means that businesses can reduce their carbon footprint at their office locations and benefit from continual efficiency saving research. Companies that move their servers from in-house server rooms typically save 90 percent on their own carbon emissions.