Expanding Efforts with the Extra Credit

The new funds will be utilized for supporting customer growth and expanding capacity at Latisys’ 123,000 square foot data center campus in Northern Virginia. At the beginning of 2011, the firm added 14 megawatts of power and expanding the floor space at the facility by 26,000 square feet. At the same time, Latisys announced a new data center that was optimized to meet the growing demand for high-density space, power and cooling.

Other Recent Expansions

Since then, Latisys has strategically improved its overall operations by acquiring and expanding current facilities while investing in resources toward improving the managed hosting arm of the company. Additionally, the enterprise has expanded its cloud computing capabilities. By increasing the credit facility, Latisys is able to take advantage of the many business opportunities in the Greater Washington, D.C. area and other large markets.

Source of the Credit Facility

The $125 million credit facility is primarily funded by an existing group of eight financial institutions including, RBC Capital Markets, Bank of America, CapitalSource, GE Capital, Caterpillar Financial Services, TD Securities, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey and Madison Capital Funding.

Current Facilities

Latisys currently boasts state-of-the-art data centers in Northern Virginia, Denver, Chicago and Irvine, California resulting in coverage across all U.S. time zones. This allows for unmatched scalability and multi-site redundancy for all information technology infrastructure demands, setting them far ahead of the competition.

Information about Latisys

Latisys provides managed hosting and services, colocation hosting and disaster recovery solutions to government agencies, enterprises and medium-sized businesses. Founded in 1994, Latisys has been serving customers utilizing multiple high-density SAS70 Type II data centers across the United States. The company continues to offer its popular scalable outsourced IT infrastructure management solutions providing everything a customer could need.

Latisys is a major player in the web hosting industry boasting some of the most hi-tech facilities and best managed solutions. With this credit facility expansion, the company will be able to further its presence and continue to have a commanding edge over the competition.

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It’s a Scary Thought

Organizations across the globe pay extra money to ensure their data held on servers is completely protected. Let’s face it; our whole life is now online. Social security, banking and address information, you name it. The loss of this data could be devastating to both individuals and organizations.

Preventative Measures

There are numerous techniques taken by data centers to ensure server disaster recovery. These include:

• Future planning
• Backup collocation centers
• Protect the infrastructure

Future Planning

This is the most critical aspect of data recovery. In addition to all data needing to be retained, it must be done at a rapid rate. It’s important not to overlook any applications, even those that are the smallest and you think aren’t as useful. Take a top-down look at the entire infrastructure to analyze aspects that are essential and those that are not.

The most efficient plan includes speed and overall recovery. One method for quick revival is remote data replication technology. This allows anyone to backup their files from any location. Luckily it’s become affordable to small and medium sized businesses.

Backup Collocation Centers

Many major organizations, like banks, that hold vital customer information have looked to using collocation centers to further backup their data. That way if a major disaster occurs and wipes out their primary and secondary facilities, the data can be easily removed from the third center.

Protect the Infrastructure

Although protecting the servers, storage equipment and networking gear are important, when planning for disaster recovery, the entire infrastructure should be considered. This includes backup power generators, cooling systems, backbones, a mix of server software and even the staff. Standard protection of vital equipment is important, but safeguarding the whole infrastructure is the most beneficial action.

At a time when security is at an all-time high because of natural and man-made disasters, data centers are popping up across the globe. In many cases, these are second or even third-level backup locations for major corporations that deal with vital information. In the case of a disaster, they will never lose a step. If you don’t have the data, you can’t run your business so protection is imperative.

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1.) Simplified Administration – Managed hosting gives you an additional level of support that stems beyond what the typical hosting service can offer.  This often includes server administration and various other management tasks.

2.) Cost Effective – Though it is more expensive than most types of web hosting, managed hosting can be a very cost effective option due to the fact that it can free up time and help an organization be more productive.

3.) Enhanced Security – In the ideal arrangement, managed hosting provides an added layer of security with features such as critical system updates, disaster recovery, and data backup.  Companies that are truly reliant on their web presence will benefit tremendously from a service that takes the necessary measures to ensure they are protected.

4.) Extensive Monitoring – Managed hosting typically provides an environment that is monitored 24/7.  This often includes monitoring of the hardware, systems and the network itself.  With such extensive monitoring, you can better assure superb performance and availability as any problems will be addressed as soon as they are detected.

5.) High-Performance – The hardware you get from a managed hosting provider usually towers over what is provided in a shared hosting arrangement.  This is because you normally receive high quality dedicated equipment and are not forced to share with other customers.  In the ideal environment, managed hosting can deliver performance that puts its shared counterpart to shame.

6.) Increased Reliability – Many new customers who upgrade to a dedicated server incur a significant amount of downtime because of all the technical challenges.  Managed hosting can help you elude these crucial periods of downtime by putting the technical burdens on the shoulders of trained IT experts.

7.) Guaranteed Resources and Features - While all types of web hosting tend to offer great feature and resource allotments, managed hosting tends to give you significantly more.  For example, you get more disk storage and bandwidth as well as more flexibility with features like programming languages, web applications, and services.

8.) Cost Savings -  Managed hosting can be so advantageous that it eliminates the need for a full-time system administrator.  Since the web hosting company is taking care of the bulk of administration, you can save the money that would normally be needed to pay someone to maintain your systems.

9.) Personalized Support - Because managed hosting is modeled around the concept of dedicated support, this sort of arrangement often makes it much easier to obtain the assistance you need.   Almost all managed hosting services offer 24/7 support, ensuring that you can reach the IT experts when you need them.

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Storage Requirements

Because storage can be a rather costly proposition, it is best to take a just-in-time approach towards your inventory.  By answering the questions below, you can draw a more accurate picture that might defer costs until they are absolutely vital:

- How much storage do you need now?

- How much storage will you need in the next 3 to 5 years

- How much additional storage will you require each year?

- Will you need to archive data and pull it from the main storage area?  If so, how much and when?

Applications to be Hosted

How many applications do you need to host and what type of applications are they?  Staging, testing, development and deployment are just some of the environments you may need hosted.  In most cases, each environment has different hosting requirements in terms of availability, operational tasks, access and support.  Make sure you assess the use and flow of data within and between these applications to precisely determine the requirements for each one.

Backup and Restore and Disaster Recovery

Before deciding on an application hosting provider, it is critical to define what is to be backed up, when and how often.  When focusing on this area, it is also a good idea to keep disasters in mind and think of what would happen if something bad occurred and the provider’s data center became completely unusable.  This is a place where you need to put a business continuity plan into effect.

SLA Monitoring and Reporting

Key performance indicators come in handy, but only when they detail what is important to your organization.  Make sure you know what levels of availability the service level agreement covers as well as the applications that will be monitored.  If monitoring reports are available, find out how they are to be structured and provided.

Root Access

System root access usually isn’t given to parties outside of the data center staff.  It is also important to know that some application providers will waive their SLAs if they can determine that a non-root access account is the cause of an outage.  Because this can have a major impact on your availability, it is vital that you inquire within the provider about their root access policies before signing the contract.

The Service Contract

When it comes to application hosting, contracts define much more than what products or services will be provided and how much they cost.  They also explain how organizations are to interact with each other.  It is wise that you go over the contract with a fine tooth comb to prevent confusion and enable a framework for dispute resolution and continuous enhancements.

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