In Part One, the discussion centered on developing the program. Part Two focused on site selection, and Part Three looked at data center planning and the impact planning has on TCO. This next column addresses the selection of a data center colocation/wholesale provider. This selection becomes the basis of comparison between building one’s own data center and outsourcing to a data center provider.
Within the industry there are multiple brokerage companies that offer data center selection services. However, only a few have the knowledge and expertise needed to provide sound consulting when it comes to data center site selection. A true data center brokerage company has extensive experience with data center providers and is familiar with the pricing structure that is not common within the typical real estate transaction. There are multiple offerings in the market that vary from data center provider, including;