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TelecityGroup, great data centres at the heart of your business.

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO DATA CENTRESDiscover the inside track from the customer and provider perspective

Welcome to your new comfort zone

#greatdatacentres

2 / TelecityGroup

Contents

Introduction: Your data centre opportunity

The groundwork: Paving the way for successful partner selection

Know your data centres: Separating good, better and best

Getting to grips: Implications of being in a shared environment

Deployment day and handover: Facilitating a smooth transition

Getting the most out of your investment: Reaping the rewards of your data centre setup

More insight? Register for our follow-on webinar

Get in touch: contact TelecityGroup

The Essential Guide to Data Centres

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Introduction: your data centre opportunity

Welcome to your new comfort zone.Moving your IT infrastructure to a data centre environment can have massive benefits for your organisation. It can improve the performance of those all-important systems that keep your business driving forward, while minimising the risks of damaging downtime.

But change, however beneficial, isn’t always easy, especially when there’s a lot at stake. Outsourcing your IT infrastructure may feel uncomfortable, especially if you’ve always managed things in-house.

We are here to help.

At TelecityGroup, we have been managing business-critical environments on behalf of blue-chip clients for over 15 years. We combine resilient, secure, well-run facilities with industry-leading expertise and knowledge. With TelecityGroup, you can be sure your infrastructure is in safe hands.

This eBook is the first step on your journey. It contains a step-by-step guide to migrating to a scalable, flexible and reliable data centre infrastructure.

We don’t expect you to take our word for it. We’ve asked one of our clients, Callcredit, to share some of their experiences around their own data centre migration.

No two data centre providers or operations are the same. Only by being equipped with a tried and tested procurement process and the right questions to ask along the way can you confidently interrogate provider claims, identify hidden costs, and the value of superior established facilities. And it begins by knowing ‘what good looks like’ for your business.

The combination of Callcredit’s experience with our own technical know-how gives you the one thing every enterprise wants at the start of its data centre journey – hindsight.

And, if after reading, you’d like more details, register for our webinar, where we take a look at Callcredit’s data centre journey in more detail.

So pull up a chair and relax. Welcome to your new data centre comfort zone.

3The Essential Guide to Data Centres

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The groundwork: Paving the way for successful partner selection

The one thing you’ll hear when researching your data centre move is that projects like this can be highly pressured and often political. Investing time and expertise upfront in a proven procurement process is the best way to minimise these headaches. Take a pragmatic approach. Address your wants and needs and be clear on strategy before you start putting your tender documents together.

Think about your requirements. Are you looking for a straightforward data centre (power, cooling, racks, cages etc.) or a highly connected, accredited facility with maximum resilience and flexible power density that requires more complex consideration?

Don’t get too hung up on the ‘what ifs’ at this stage. Risk can be managed. Focus on the practicalities.

This is all good advice. Building up a detailed picture of your needs is fine if you have experience in working with data centres. It’s not so helpful if you’re a data centre beginner.

That’s why having belief in your chosen provider as a source of honest advice – one that doesn’t attempt to cloud with over stated claims and hidden costs – will help in successful project delivery.

Of course, measuring subjective factors, like personality, professionalism and culture, isn’t easy but it is important to assess these factors in determining organisational ‘fit’.

As you go through the procurement process, inevitably it will become clear in whom you have the greatest confidence.

But to get to that point, you need to put any potential providers to the test – being sure that your methodology doesn’t impair the decision making process by implanting preconceived ideas and misleading cost comparisons.

Our five steps to successful project planning will help you through this process.

Five steps to fail-safe planning:

Bring the right people in, at the right stage: legal, security, technical, networks and procurement should all be involved.

Figure out a meaningful way of evaluating potential providers with a scoring system that attempts to capture the subjective, as well as the physical.

Review all applications and systems across the business at the outset. It can prove tricky (and time consuming) to get to the bottom of legacy platforms – especially where few staff have knowledge of their operation.

Work with the project team to define your core requirements; agree the medium to long-term vision; and ascertain a likely ‘kit’ list so you can share this with your shortlist of prospective providers if needed. Everyone packages their services slightly differently so this can help create a more level playing field.

Think about the contractual elements early on in the process – ideally as part of the RFP. It’s a good idea to review the paperwork with your suppliers before you’ve made your final choice.

Top tips for this stage:

Do:Procurement should lead the process but make sure everyone who will play a part (no matter how small) is engaged along the way.

Do:Keep the pricing under wraps from the wider business until the evaluation is complete. People tend to rush to the financials before considering the bigger picture.

Don’t:Skip the RFI stage. Let it inform and shape your RFP. This important information gathering will often highlight features and benefits you may otherwise overlook.



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Know your data centres: separating good, better and best.

You’d be forgiven for thinking one data centre is much the same as another. It’s just a building with power and air conditioning, after all? Once you’ve scaled the perimeters of a number of data centres, however, it should soon become evident that their infrastructure, policies, procedures and approach can vary quite dramatically.

That’s why visiting your shortlisted facilities is an essential of your procurement process.

Even better, canvass a couple of operators before putting your project out to tender. You can be clear in your mind what ‘good looks like’ for your business while keeping an eye open for operators whose operations don’t live up to their sales pitch.

So, what should you be looking for in a data centre? A secure, accredited, highly connected facility offering world-class service is a must. What else? Here are some pointers.

Longevity. An established set-up is much more dependable and likely to be more sustainable.

Financial stability. You need to be sure your business critical IT infrastructure isn’t in the hands of a company that could be about to dissolve.

Attention to detail. Cleanliness counts for a lot. Dust, cardboard lying around, obstacles and wires present a health and safety risk and indicate poor data centre management that could ultimately jeopardise your equipment. Inspect what would be your designated area and do spot checks around the building.

Evidence of procedure. From the moment you step foot outside the facility you should be aware of security measures. How easy is it for you to gain access? Can you enter areas you shouldn’t? Are you confident in the safeguarding of your assets?

Investment. Infrastructure that’s well-maintained, on-going investment, planned preventative maintenance programmes and business continuity should be a given, make sure they are, and look for any signs that suggest corners are being cut.


Do:Take along a small team of technical experts who can help you assess the provider’s claims rationally.

Do:Request the data centre makes its appropriate personnel available on the day. This makes sure you get the answers you need from one security/technical/legal expert to another.

Don’t:Take along the key decision makers until those responsible for the day-to-day management have given the green light first. Make sure security, legal, network, data centre managers and anyone else that will be significantly involved takes a tour too.



Getting to grips – implications of being in a shared environment

Getting into the right frame of mind for changing to a data centre model is another important step. It’s a good idea to start as early as you can.Most important, remember that out of sight, doesn’t mean out of mind. You’re still in control of your equipment, even if you can’t immediately lay your hands on it. Some technical teams find it hard to get to grips with being physically separated from the organisation’s lifeblood, so keep this idea front and centre through the whole process.

When it comes to reviewing contracts, it’s worth keeping in mind that terms and conditions are a way for your provider to manage risk. You should be cautious of committing to anyone who too readily bends the rules.

Power usage is an important case in point. Contractual limits are set to ensure the facility doesn’t ‘over-pull’– putting everyone’s assets at risk. Operators that contend their power or fail to monitor consumption carefully can put their resilience at risk.

Compensation is another thorny issue and one that customers will often try to negotiate. By all means make the contract work for you with additional assurances, such as service credits to compensate for any unplanned downtime, but be mindful of trying to push the contractual boundaries too far.

If a provider bows to unrealistic liability demands it could lead to additional risk for both the provider, and for all its customers, whether they are directly affected by the incident or not.

Take claims relating to consequential loss, for example. If there’s a service affecting issue and the data centre is obliged to pay out those customers directly affected and their customers’ customers too, you can envisage how this could soon spiral out of commercial control.


Do:Be flexible. Keep an open mind and always consider the bigger picture when you’re at the negotiating stage. Being in a shared data environment means certain contractual obligations on both sides.

Do: Investigate how a provider manages risk and escalates procedure in an emergency. A capable operator will address any concerns and be able to demonstrate the contingencies.

Don’t:Get too hung up on physical location. Out of sight, doesn’t mean out of mind – you’re still in control of your equipment!



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Deployment day and handover: Facilitating a smooth transition

You’re almost at the end of your data centre procurement journey. That critical deployment day is approaching.Every organisation is different so, rather than an all-encompassing guide to your deployment, we highlight here some of the less obvious considerations that can get overlooked at this crucial time.

Inevitably the ‘go live’ stage entails working through the night to minimise service disruption. That’s why it’s so important to do all mission critical planning beforehand – in the cold light of day. Trying to make rational, sleep deprived decisions under immense pressure is near impossible.

Having the project sponsor and senior members of the team on-hand is a welcome morale boost. They should be there to share in the highs and the lows.

Leave no stone unturned. Document every name, contact number and email address you might need on the day.

Hold regular briefing meetings with the deployment team and always keep them in the loop.

Try naming conventions or devise some sort of key to convey project milestones (e.g. ‘Mission Critical Monday’) and make sure you have everyone you need to complete these all-important steps.


Do:

Make sure you have a skilled team on stand-by following ‘go live’. Most problems occur in the first 48 hours following migration.

Do:Ensure you put ’roll-back’ plans in place. You need to decide at what point you’ll pull the plug if all doesn’t go to plan and who makes that decision.

Don’t:Expect the same team that have managed the migration to be on-hand immediately post-deployment. They need sleep.



Getting the most out of your investment – reaping the rewards of your data centre setup

Now is when being clear on the cost-value dynamic during partner selection really pays off.Bottom dollar facilities have to be cutting costs somewhere – if they weren’t, the world’s leading technology companies would save a small fortune by turning to these providers.

The fact is: a more established, market leading provider can build a data centre from scratch better – and at least as cost effectively as any other attempting to compete on price.

With experience, partnerships and credibility on their side they simply cannot be undercut on a like-for-like basis – unless certain elements of the cheaper operation are being compromised.

On a day-to-day basis the immediate impact of a more resilient, efficient infrastructure will be most notable to technology teams. The medium to longer term benefits of enhanced agility, scalability and flexibility – supporting innovation and speed to market – will be appreciated across the board.

And the bottom line benefits will typically show themselves in five to 10 years but sometimes sooner.


Do: Track benefits realisation. Performance monitoring should inform your future infrastructure decisions.

Do: Look to our client Callcredit for a successful benefits realisation story. Just 12 months since deployment the company is well on the way to recouping investment in record time and has already seen financial gains View the case study here.

Don’t:Confuse cost and value. Optimal benefits can only be realised by recognising the value-add that transparency and experience bring.



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More insight? Watch our webinar

We hope this eBook has given you a top-level overview of some of the things you should (and shouldn’t) be looking for in your data centre facility.Now it’s time to dig deeper.

In our webinar, The Essential Guide to Data Centres (Part II) – we give you more details about information you need to make better infrastructure decisions and ensure you get your data centre procurement right first time.

We divulge the customer and provider perspective and deliver a more detailed blueprint for establishing strategic partnerships, project success and tangible business benefits.

Register for the webinar nowWatch and observe lessons learned to prevent you from making the mistakes that could cost you time, money and credibility in the future.




Get in touch – Contact TelecityGroupTelecityGroup is Europe’s leading provider of premium data centres, operating facilities in city locations across Europe.TelecityGroup’s data centres provide secure and highly-connected environments for the IT and telecoms equipment that powers the digital economy. Our data centres are enabling environments in which the separate networks that make up the internet meet and where bandwidth intensive applications, content and information are hosted.

Headquartered in London, we operate data centres in prime city centre positions in Amsterdam, Dublin, Frankfurt, Helsinki, Istanbul, London, Manchester, Milan, Paris and Stockholm.

We are currently expanding our capacity in all markets by building new data centres and expanding our existing facilities to ensure we have the capacity to support customer growth.

Learn more by visiting: www.telecitygroup.com

Thank you to Callcredit for their valuable contribution to this eBook. About Callcredit

Callcredit Information Group is expert in managing consumer data for businesses across every sector, from financial services, retail and utilities to public sector, telecoms, insurance and many more. The Group is focused on developing innovative products and services to help businesses make smarter, more informed decisions throughout the customer lifecycle.

The Group’s customers include many of the UK’s leading companies, including all of the clearing banks, several major international lenders, media communications businesses, and petroleum, automotive, power and retail organisations.

The company employs approximately 900 UK based professionals in Leeds, Kent, Bath, London, Swindon and Warrington and also has offices in Japan and Lithuania and agents working across international markets.

Learn more by visiting: www.callcredit.com



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Outstanding data centres. Expertise you can trust.

Europe’s leading provider of premium carrier-neutral data centres.




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