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

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

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

Vendor co-location site visits can validate decisions or uncover vendor inadequacies and biases. Conduct site visits to shortlisted data center co-location vendors to add another layer of due diligence to the final vendor selection.

Tool

When the organization has received completed proposals back from co-location vendors, a common scoring method should be used to compare and evaluate each proposal. Implement a common scoring method into evaluation processes to determine a...

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

Organizations in the selection process for a co-location vendor should issue an RFP to gather required information from vendors and make an informed decision. After finalizing selection criteria that is relevant to the organization's needs, use...

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...

Template/Policy

Organizations looking for a co-location vendor should issue a RFP in order to gather the required information from vendors and make an informed decision. After finalizing selection criteria that is relevant to the organization's needs, use this...

When a shortlist of co-location vendors has been determined, IT must complete an additional key step in their due diligence that includes validating vendor claims and following up with site visits to each potential location. Be prepared to...