A data center is a facility for storing and processing information or a building where computer servers are kept. The growing demand for faster connections, storage, security of servers and workstations from businesses of all types has grown exponentially.
More data centers have been built to accommodate the exponential growth in demand that provides better services and benefits. Today, there are two primary data centers: a carrier-neutral data center and a piece of customer-premises equipment (CPE).
A carrier-neutral data center provides space, power, and cooling to companies who operate their servers while ensuring connectivity to ISPs so users can be confident they will always have functionality. They also need connectivity on many levels, including network access points – or Internet exchanges. This provides a critical way for companies to access the Internet and exchange bandwidth with other providers.
A CPE-neutral data center uses a company’s existing servers. It adds additional connectivity through an ISP using switches, routers, and fiber optic cables – instead of operating its servers or buying a “port franchise” from a carrier like AT&T or Verizon. They use dedicated circuits no matter if they are needed or not.
Companies who have their servers can put them at either type of facility. However, most prefer carrier-neutral data centers deals even though it is more expensive because it offers better security, flexibility in network design since there are no constraints on how many ISPs they want to connect their networks to, as well as having guaranteed uptime and a lack of the unforeseen fees that CPE-neutral data center providers tend to add.
Businesses will not get everything they need from a relationship with only one data center provider, but having the best data center deals with multiple providers is better than nothing at all. Many businesses contract with several service providers even if it goes against conventional wisdom because by doing so, they get access to more networks which gives them more excellent reliability and speeds.
With Internet2, business participants work together to contribute fiber-optic capacity into major Internet2 points of presence (pops) and help create an environment in which the members’ digital resources can cross peers and campus boundaries and share knowledge that was never possible before.
This partnership allows the business to route data using dedicated links that are available 24/7 instead of worrying about oversubscription and less than guaranteed speeds because everything they need is provided in one package.
Data Center service providers offer a wide range of services to businesses, making it easy for them to get what they need when they need it without worrying about price or terms and conditions. They know all too well how hard it can be to find the right balance between performance, cost, and flexibility, so their clients don’t have to.
The benefits of having the best data center deals on a data center relationship far outweighs not getting one at all if given a choice. With constant technological advances, there is always something new that needs to be done, but data centers are far easier to work with than some companies.
Data centers are of great benefit to businesses; they store servers and provide guaranteed uptime which creates convenience for them while also reducing costs by limiting loss through downtime. There are two kinds of data centers: carrier-neutral and customer premise equipment (CPE) neutral. Businesses who operate their servers go for carrier-neutral, while CPE neutral is for companies who use the servers provided to them by their service providers. The latter offers more excellent connectivity and uptime because it uses dedicated circuits instead of shared ones.
