Last year, to get a better understanding about what is currently important to data centre managers we ran a survey to understand their needs better and clarify what are the key priorities when choosing a data centre.

The single most important factor when making a data centre decision was connectivity, with 66% of data centre managers identifying it as their main priority. The result is not all that surprising, bearing in mind we operate in a day and age where an increasing amount of systems are outsourced, virtualised or subject to WAN optimisation protocol.

What’s interesting are the implications this will have on the UK data centre industry, which has now become the most developed in the world (something we state with pride as the first colocation facility in Europe.) With 45 facilities to choose from in and around London, making the choice for your business has become increasingly difficult.

Our latest research does however bring some consensus to the debate, supporting the Colo-X 2014 market outlook of the need to recognise the value of a connectivity eco-system as a vital part in any decision making process. Although with this being said, commonly using the term connectivity eco-system runs the risk of diluting its meaning to the benefits of ‘reach.’

Reach

The concept of ‘Reach’ summarises what is commonly thought of as the main benefit of a connectivity eco-system, the ability connect to a wealth of partners from a single location. The best known example of this is the network environment offered by the London Internet Exchange (LINX.) Now totalling 534 members, LINX has hosted its main infrastructure in Telehouse since 1994, enabling the biggest names in telecommunications, internet technology and more recently, media and content to deliver the internet infrastructure we know today. With over 50% of peak internet bandwidth used by streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube, the ability to privately peer with key ISP’s in a data centre location such as Telehouse London is paramount to the global internet infrastructure.

Reach is certainly a highly important factor; however a combination of our latest research and experience over the past 25 years highlights that the true value to connectivity is more than meets the eye.

Business Continuity

Crunching the stats from our uptime survey, it doesn’t take long before connectivity shows further value within the data centre infrastructure. Out of the IT Media readers who had indicated that they had experienced downtime over the past year, almost a third highlighted that this was due to connectivity issues (in fact, connectivity was only marginally behind human error as the main driver of downtime.) Knowing the failure costs associated with this downtime, the value of knowing that your connection is made at one of the key Network Operations locations in the UK is a significant benefit to any data centre professional. We know this all too well, with representatives from Tier 1-3 carriers contributing a significant proportion of the technical representation in Telehouse on a daily basis.

Cost

Although closely aligned with reach, cost is all too often underplayed within eco-system as an umbrella term. The reality is that the connectivity within our data centre acts as a key driver for cost efficiency within the data centre strategies of our customers. The growing presence of major players from the world of internet technology has enabled many of our customers to not only reduce the need for extensive connections, but consolidate their overall data centre portfolio.

Global Business Development

The ‘born global’ nature of what is referred to as the ‘digital economy’ highlights that the boundaries of an internet eco-system needs to be broader than a single data centre. The challenge facing the CIO of any technology focused enterprise is to gain fast and efficient reach, the sort of service best served by a global partner. With 46 data centres spanning 13 territories worldwide supported by KDDI’s global network services, customers in London such as Tibus have been able to utilise London as a global hub, benefiting from the capability of fast and efficient connectivity around the world.

The Verdict

The most interesting point about data centre connectivity is the fact that it’s constantly evolving. What started as being geographic proximity to submarine landing cables now features as one of the most important drivers in the evolution of business technology. Whether it is reach, performance, business continuity, cost or even business development; connectivity remains a factor that will long remain as a critical decision when choosing a data centre.

This is where Telehouse’s newest facility, North Two, comes into focus. Based within the original and Europe’s oldest carrier neutral data centre campus, North Two is designed to future proof data centre connectivity. As a New Site for a New Internet, Telehouse North Two is a mission-critical data centre which leverages the leading network ecosystem in Europe and colocation expertise of Telehouse. North Two empowers the evolution of business by managing risk, maximising the potential of new technologies and providing global and local reach for the data driven enterprise.

To find out more about North Two, register today for information updates and download our data centre manager survey infographic.