Vendor Landscape: US Co-location/Managed Services

Learn how to navigate the super-sized US market.

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IBM

AT&T

Verizon Business

Peak 10

Savvis

Rackspace

CoreSite

SunGard

Level 3 Communications

CGI

Telx

Equinix

What is a Value Score?

The Value Score indexes each vendor’s product offering and business strength relative to their price point. It does not indicate vendor ranking.

Vendors that score high offer more bang for the buck (e.g. features, usability, stability, etc.) than the average vendor, while the inverse is true for those that score lower.

Price-conscious enterprises may wish to give the Value Score more consideration than those who are more focused on specific vendor/product attributes.

Weight: You can adjust the weight to what is more important to you.

Progress Bars:
When both vendor and product weightings are equal to exactly 100%, your custom shortlist will be generated.

View our vendor methodology

Vendor

Product

Viability

Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long-term.

Strategy

Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap.

Reach

Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support.

Channel

Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong.

Total

You are currently over the vendor limit, please adjust your weightings to equal exactly 100%.

Features

The solution provides basic and advanced feature/functionality.

Usability

The solutions dashboard and reporting tool are intuitive and easy to use.

Affordability

The five year TCO of the solution is economical.

Architecture

The delivery method of the solution aligns with what is expected within the space.

Total

You are currently over the product limit, please adjust your weightings to equal exactly 100%.

What matters more, the vendor score or the product score? As you weigh the importance, we will generate the vendor shortlist to match your needs.

Weight

IBM

IBM
Vendor: Product:

AT&T

AT&T
Vendor: Product:

Verizon

Verizon Business
Vendor: Product:

Peak 10

Peak 10
Vendor: Product:

Savvis (CenturyLink)

Savvis
Vendor: Product:

Rackspace

Rackspace
Vendor: Product:

CoreSite

CoreSite
Vendor: Product:

SunGard

SunGard
Vendor: Product:

HP
Vendor: Product:

Level 3 Communications

Level 3 Communications
Vendor: Product:

CGI

CGI
Vendor: Product:

Telx

Telx
Vendor: Product:

Equinix

Equinix
Vendor: Product:

View Vendor Shortlist

What is a shortlist?
A shortlist is a personalized list of vendors based on the criteria above.

Your shortlist offers more information about vendor's strengths, weaknesses, price-points, etc, and ranks them according to your needs.

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Your Challenge

The US co-location/managed services market has over 430 vendors providing similar offerings. The initial instinct of many IT decision makers is to select the vendor they are most familiar with; however, choosing a vendor based on name alone may not yield desired results.
Because the US co-location/managed services market is highly commoditized, customers may have trouble differentiating the most appropriate vendor for their needs. Vendors actively attempt to set apart their services from others, when in reality, the differences are quite minimal.
Many vendors offer only pure co-location or only managed services. This makes it difficult for customers whose needs change throughout the course of their engagement. Customers with pure co-location who wish to add managed services must seek them from a third-party provider, which means entering into additional contracts.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Many vendors no longer offer a full spectrum of services. Many have discontinued pure co-location in favour of managed services, or they offer private or public clouds instead of basic co-location. This makes it difficult for first time customers to take the time to comfortably evolve in their engagement.
Customers must be diligent in their search for a vendor. Selecting based on name and reputation alone is not recommended; use reputation to help create a shortlist, while also identifying the knock-out criteria that is essential for your unique needs. Not every vendor is a fit for every customer.
Price is not the only differentiator. Have an educated conversation with potential vendors over their engagement practices, their customer service and support, and your specific requirements.

Impact and Result

Understand the changing US co-location/managed services market.
Evaluate vendors and services based on your unique requirements.
Determine which services are appropriate for particular use cases and scenarios.

Get to Action

Evaluate US co-location/managed services vendors and available solutions
Understand the US co-location/managed services market, the players, and their products.
- Vendor Landscape Storyboard: US Co-location/Managed Services
Identify the solutions that best fit enterprise needs
Develop a customized shortlist to speed solution selection.
- US Co-location/Managed Services Vendor Shortlist Tool

Develop a Co-location Strategy

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