Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Colocation and Data Centers : Provider financial research?

[bjseiler]

When everyone here is looking at colo providers, do you research the financial stability of the facility and the transit providers?

I am not a financial analyst, but it seems Equinix and Level 3 are both losing a good amount of money and they seem to be companies (one facility and one facility/transit) that people seem to think are top notch here.

http://www.equinix.com/press/press/2004/02_04_04.htm
http://www.level3.com/press/4237.html

Does anyone pay attention to things like this or just hope for the best?

[rusko]

of course we pay attention. with that said, what we are really looking at is what will happen if things go sour. not too many people were concerned with the cw collapse because we were pretty sure someone will be willing to buy up the operations for pennies on the dollar and keep them going. same goes for level3 and equinix.

paul

[ReliableServers]

Only thing I can see happening if if Lvl3 goes ch11/gets baught is they close some colo facilities down.

[bjseiler]

The Level 3 facility in Chicago is one that I am considering. Is going with a single bandwidth facility a stupid move or b/c Level 3 is higher quality, is that less of a risk?

[mgphoto]

This is why it's generally best to go with a carrier neutral facility.

After that the big trick is dealing with IPs if you lose a provider. No fun changing everyone to new IPs. But it's better than having to find a new location, move and then still have to change all the network stuff.

The way we handle it is to have two ISPs across the street from each other. If we've got problems at one we could just get up and move to a network and system that is already up and running. We already have the network infrastructure to add another 200% in servers. All we have to do is add more rackspace.

Carrier neutral is the way to go.

[mj4589]

Folks,

Level(3) is now moving towards a carrier-neutral platform. They gladly provide space without forcing you to buy bandwidth from them. There are many providers on-net in the various facilities that you can get bandwidth from.

[bjseiler]

mj4589 -- thanks for the info. I would not have thunk about asking that. I am taking a tour tomorrow so I will definitely ask.

[lostpacket]

Just make sure that you go into one of thier money making centers. Like CW Jersey City, bring in the most revenue so they would never shut it down and if they did, someone would snatch it up to keep it open because of all the big names that are in there.

I would only worry if you are going into a facility that isnt popular or is in the middle of nowhere..

[bjseiler]

Another option popped up on Friday. What about Focal Communications? It looks like they emerged from bankruptcy last summer. I don't read much about people using Focal on these boards.

[rusko]

focal who?

paul

[bjseiler]

Sorry, http://www.focal.com

I thought it was a national company but it looks like it is just a Chicago company.

I toured the Level 3 facility today. Really nice place. The one thing that surprised me was that it was not staffed on the weekends at all.

[Mfjp]

Are you looking at Oakbrook Level3 in Chicago?

I've talk with coloquest people and found out there are lots of provider in the facility. I'll gladly light you a XO feed for multihoming if you're paranoid.

Take this advice: Always run BGP on your own if you could afford it, it doesnt' matter how many transit provider your upstream has, you're still singled-homed. Multi-homing yourself is the only way you could avoid all that problem.

[bjseiler]

I just toured the facility downtown, not out in Oakbrook. Since I live downtown, I would prefer a data center in the city instead of the burbs. Not that it really matters since I have been to my current data center twice in the last 6 months, but it is nice to be close......except I am living in NYC all summer so with my luck, all my problems will happen then.

I do have a MS in Comp Sci......but my practical knowledge of networking is a big fat zero so running my own BGP is out of the question I think. I know more about Crisco than Cisco.

[Mfjp]

I think the best for you to do is to find a good provider with a solid uptime track record. are you thinking about going Level3 direct?

[bjseiler]

Right now I have visited Server Central (Equinix), Anet (former Genuity data center), Fastroot (former cable company data center), and Coloquest (Level 3 downtown Chicago). I am going to visit Pennant on Monday (Focal Communications).

It just isn't an easy decision for me because I don't have the money to make the easy decision, but I also want this to be my last move for a long time.

Server Central -- I would do it in a second if money was not an issue. Best data center I have seen, the people I met were nice and seemed more than competent, they have a good reputation, etc. But, expensive (but you get what you pay for here and again, if money was no issue, this is a no brainer).

Anet -- They have really just moved into the data center, but it does have -- good connections, nice "small company" feel, 24/7 onsite personnel and access, decent price on space, too high pricing on bandwidth if I ever do need big pipes in the future.

Fastroot -- Decent data center, basically they have a ton of fiber running directly to Equinix and also to 600 S LaSalle. No 24/7 personnel or access unless it is an emergency. I really liked the CEO though. He seems to be a tech leader in Chicago and on a personal level, this would be my first choice if all things were equal. High pricing on bandwidth, good pricing on rackspace.

Level 3 -- Great data center, good reputation, 24/7 access, decent pricing on both spacing and bandwidth. It would be buying through Coloquest who I know nothing about and I did not really "click" with the person who gave me the tour (no fault to him, he was not a salesperson like the others). He said they are looking to get XO blended in so it would not be single homed too much longer.

Focal Communications -- we'll see on Monday.

All in all, there seems to be some really good companies here in Chicago. We don't have the great pricing on space or bandwidth that I see posted here for Fremont/San Fran, Dallas, Miami, or NYC/NJ, but after touring the facilities and meeting the people, I am happy with the people running the companies. That to me means a lot. I would rather deal with somebody I like in a decent facility than a jerk in better facility where I am just a number.

Hopefully a good decision will come to me this weekend......