When you decide to hire the services of a data center, either to rent space for your own server or to rent a full server or server space from the colocation center, it pays to pick and choose and weigh your options before going with the first one that you come across. Each company’s server needs vary, which is why it’s important that you take the following aspects into consideration when you’re shopping around for the data center that’s perfect for you:

· Look for a provider who will offer you customer support of the best quality at all hours of the day and night. This means the center must be adequately staffed so that there are enough people at the support desk to handle your queries and requests both on an emergency and non-emergency basis. Some centers may charge extra for certain services, so ask the right questions before you sign up.

· It’s wise to be as close to your server as you possibly can, so choose a facility that’s in close physical proximity.

· You must be able to rest assured that your server is secure, both from the elements of nature like fire, water and humidity, and from manmade threats like hackers and downtime due to power failures and loss of connectivity to the Internet backbone. Check out the infrastructure offered, backup power options, built-in redundancy, the security levels of the access systems, and the number of ISPs the colocation center has tied up with.

· Read your service level agreement and make sure you’re getting all the features and services you need in the plan you’re signing up for. If you have to pay through your nose for services that are vital to your server needs, it’s best to go somewhere else. Ask about the upper limit for data transfers that are included in your package, and the rates you’ll have to pay if you cross that threshold.

· If you need managed services and expertise to help maintain and troubleshoot your server, choose a center that offers the best technical help.

· If your needs and data are mission critical, find out the disaster recovery options that are in place at the center you choose.

· Other options that are not as important as the ones above but that do count include the additional services that colocation centers provide like web-based, remote management tools that allow you to view statistics and details about your website, support for video streams and options that let you manage sudden increases in traffic to your site efficiently.

· Choose a center that’s not about to close shop in the near future and whose customers are long-standing – these, while more expensive initially, are more reliable in the long run.

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