Revealed: The Top 10 Questions DataBank Customers Ask

Because we are continually asking our customers what they want and need, we thought it would be both informative and fun for DataBank to reveal some of the key questions our customers or potential customers commonly ask us.

To spice it up a bit, we’ll cover our most frequently asked questions in reverse countdown order.

Here are the TOP 10:

# 10 Do you offer tool storage and staging?
This is one of our most common inquiries. This question comes from companies concerned about losing benefits they currently have either in their own data center or at other colocation facilities. Having some workspace to prep servers and other infrastructure is important because hardware often comes with “some assembly required” before the rack and stack process. Just as important, companies with an in-house infrastructure team hate to carry their tool chest around with them, and having storage allows them to have ready access to tools they might need, often late at night or on weekends. Most DataBank data centers provide tool storage and staging. It will be important for you to check with your data center manager prior to planning any on-site work.

# 9 Can you tell me about your maintenance windows and refresh cycles?
This question often comes from companies who have worked with colocation providers but neglect to ask it before signing up. It’s no surprise that maintenance windows, and how they are handled by your colocation service provider, can be highly impactful to your business. A good colocation partner advises you well in advance of those windows so you can communicate effectively with your staff and internal employees. A good partner should also have a refresh cycle roadmap for the infrastructure they use to support you. It’s always comforting to know that your partner has a plan. DataBank communicates this information via email, in the customer portal in the “Live Status” area, and as a widget on the portal’s home page.

# 8 How does your Internet bandwidth commit work?
We like this question because it highlights one of the key benefits of working with DataBank. Because we offer Managed Internet, we can provide more speed, scale, and redundancy than most organizations can get when they buy Internet directly from telco providers. Our blended Internet offers multiple upstream connections to Tier 1 providers and is delivered to you in a single hand-off. We manage all core routing, redundancy, and route optimization, then deliver speed and redundancy at a lower cost than DIY approaches. We provide big ports, and you pay only for what you use based on the industry-standard 95th percentile billing. If you buy connectivity from a telco provider directly, you typically have to pay for the entire cost of the connection. In other words, it’s not burstable. Therefore, it rarely makes sense to bring your own Internet connection to our facilities; we provide that option via our meet-me-room, if that’s what fits your business.

# 7 What is the difference between remote hands and smart hands?
DataBank’s Data Center EvolvedTM experience is full-service, with both Remote Hands and Smart Hands as options. Remote Hands services help with basic observation of your environment and with tasks such as a checking port number or securing cabling. Smart Hands services help with more complex tasks, such as setting up a fire wall or testing equipment. Having remote data center services with Smart Hands capabilities means you have professional, certified technicians providing 24x7x365 support – critically important when servers go down and you need to get things back up and running as quickly as possible.

# 6 How can you help us with compliance?
Most companies will need to show SSAE SOC I or SOC II compliance at a minimum. Because DataBank maintains this compliance certification for our data centers, typically, you can download our documentation to satisfy the compliance reporting requirements of the organizations that request this annually. This allows you to save the time and money associated with this reporting function. Any other compliance requirements you need to meet, such as FedRAMP, HIPAA and PCI work in similar fashion – all certifications maintained by DataBank. For these requirements, we get you as close to 80% of the way there, reducing the time and cost for those requirements.

# 5 Do you provide migration assistance?
Yes. DataBank can help you in a variety of ways, whether that be with a physical migration or virtual migration. DataBank offers services to help with shipping/receiving, provisioning of power, rack and stack, and cabling. For virtual workloads, we assist in the process, planning, and data migration to get workloads ported to DataBank’s cloud platforms. Our engineering teams leverage a proven 5-step process (Plan > Design > Build > Test > Go-Live) to migrate your cloud solutions. We also go beyond simple “lift and shift” approaches to help engineer “progressive path” migrations when a multi-stage approach involving a series of smaller migrations is necessary.

# 4 What do you monitor, and what can I see remotely?
Part of the benefit of colocation is knowing you have a partner keeping a close eye on your infrastructure while you still have all the visibility and control you need. DataBank monitors all the physical security controls, such as access to the facility, access to the cabinet and cage areas, power, cooling, network, and other infrastructure elements. Plus, we extend that visibility to all of customers via our Customer Portal, assuring their environment is secure and their infrastructure is performing as expected.

# 3 To which carriers do I have access?
All DataBank facilities are carrier-neutral, meaning we allow you to choose your carriers for private and public connectivity. Our data centers have an average of 10 on-site network providers available in our meet-me-rooms, which are fed by dual entrances for redundancy. In addition to direct access to carriers, DataBank offers direct connectivity to the public cloud hyperscalers to reduce latency and provide limitless scalability quickly.

# 2 How do you handle heat for high-density?
DataBank uses a variety of techniques to keep your equipment cool and reduce the risk of outages due to the heat created by your equipment. We use high-efficiency chilled air combined with hot-aisle containment, as well as chilled-water doors for heat containment. We also offer the added benefit of larger cabinets to help reduce your footprint and thereby reduce your overall cost for colocation, allowing you to cool over 100kW of power in a single cabinet within some of our data centers. Of course, as high density demands grow, we continue to explore new and more power-efficient ways of cooling your environment.

And the # 1 question is: Can I bring a popcorn machine into the breakroom?
Many of our facilities are equipped with microwave ovens for popcorn, but you’ll have to bring your own movies, assuming you have time to watch them.