Resilience isn’t the only aspect to consider when evaluating connectivity at your data centre.
Choice of network provider may be something that is important to your organisation. A carrier-neutral data centre (as opposed to a carrier-specific facility) and its range of networks, opens up the freedom for you to take transit and other network products from a provider that suits your specific needs, while you may also benefit from the competition that choice within a market introduces: price, service and performance.
Another tick in the box for a facility that has multiple network providers comes with the appreciation of the fact that each of those “Points of Presence” (or PoPs) has involved due diligence and investment on the part of the provider. Building a PoP is a significant cost, so if they’ve put the work in, it’s generally a good sign that the data centre is an important, worthwhile place to be.
Another couple of the factors that will likely influence your choice of data centre will be the reach and performance of network options there. For example, if low latency is important for the services that you deliver, finding a facility that can offer access to regional and national peering providers (via an Internet Exchange Point) will be advantageous. The ability to partner with an IXP will minimise network hops and route your traffic in the most efficient way, leading to optimum performance for your users.
Other connectivity features that may be important to your organisation include:
- The availability of high throughput, low latency direct links to cloud providers (e.g. AWS and Microsoft Azure) which can offer enhanced performance in comparison with public internet connections.
- The ability to connect directly to other regional data centres (e.g. Metro Ring in Manchester) and primary national connectivity centres (London Long-Reach Ring).
- The opportunity to link your colocation and cloud deployments if you’re interested in adopting a hybrid IT strategy.