Solution Set

Organizations that encounter significant capital expenditures, when building or updating their aging data center facilities. As a result, they are faced with a difficult build vs. buy decision.

Note

The decision to co-locate all or part of the data center facility can be a risky one. Because the decision to build vs. buy is essentially one of cost, IT decision makers must put in the time and effort in requirements gathering, determining the...

Template/Policy

Ongoing management of the Service Level Agreement (SLA) and co-location contract is critical for a successful co-location engagement. Assessments should be conducted at least annually to ensure the co-location vendor is complying with the...

Template/Policy

A co-location Service Level Agreement (SLA) provides a definition of performance for the negotiated service. SLAs ensure accountability on the part of the service provider and also determine the price of the service. Understand and develop...

Template/Policy

After defining the organization's requirements for data center co-location service offerings, expectations for the engagement methodology should be defined. Many organizations run into trouble in the co-location agreement when a vendor's...

Template/Policy

Co-location recovery services deliver high availability using replication and backup technologies to ensure continuity of enterprise operations. Many organizations engage in co-location purely for recovery services; however, recovery services...

Template/Policy

Basic services for co-location are a commodity amongst vendor offerings. Understanding the business needs helps to narrow down the list of vendors and aid in the selection process. Choose a set of criteria to base the decision on, before...

Template/Policy

Managed services offerings build on basic co-location with added services provided by the vendor. Regardless of immediate needs, IT should include managed services criteria in the vendor selection process. Choose a set of criteria based on...

Tool

The data center build versus buy decision is essentially a cost decision. Many organizations that gather requirements and forecast data center costs into the future will find that over time, a co-location strategy is the less expensive...

Organizations planning to build or refresh the data center should consider the build versus buy decision in the planning phase. This decision requires careful examination and evaluation of options involving asset inventories, facility...