Metered Power Colocation – Get “Current” Before You Plug-in

Technology continues to advance at an amazing pace. Today, you can do things on your cell phone, that 10 years ago you couldn’t do on your computer, and 20 years ago you couldn’t have even imagined was possible. Yet most data centers and hosting companies are still using technology that is older than me when it comes to power systems and as a result you are paying the price. When buying colocation services, most hosting companies only offer a fixed rate power circuit with no intelligence and yet the technology exists to offer so much more.

What does that mean? Basically, you’re plugging all of your brand new servers, networking equipment, and other devices into a power strip that is no more advanced and provides about the same features as the electrical sockets in your house. You spend a lot of your time configuring your servers, setting up monitoring, and closely analyzing the up time, performance, and overall health of your equipment, yet your hosting company cannot tell you anything about the power that they are providing you and you are consuming. It’s time to insist on metered power, otherwise you are using old technology and you’re paying a premium for it too.

What does Metered Power have to offer?

1. 1) In order to provide metered power, your hosting company must have intelligent circuit monitoring equipment in place. This means that they can tell exactly how much power you’re using and can make sure that you are alerted if your current usage is approaching a point of tripping your breaker.
2. 2) With this monitoring equipment in place, you should be provided with a real time look at both the current level in your circuit and overall power consumption. This can be as simple as just a point in time snapshot of the values, or a graph over time, which is what we provide at EarthLink. Here is an example of what those graphs might typically look like:
3. 3) Probably the most important feature of metered power is that you only pay for what you use. Without metered power, companies will charge a flat rate for a circuit. It doesn’t matter if you plug in one server or fill up every U in an entire cabinet, you will pay the same amount for that circuit. The prices are typically high enough to more than cover the cost if the entire circuit is maxed out. In the end you are overpaying either a little or a lot. With a metered power circuit you only pay for what you use. When first starting out you can save a lot of money. You can also influence your costs by controlling the efficiency of your equipment or how you deploy that equipment. Don’t just take my word for it. Below I’ve compiled some example data. I grabbed the per circuit price from two national hosting brands who only offer fixed power pricing (and who will remain nameless for their own benefit) and compared that to a customer of ours who is using metered power.
   

   	National Host #1	National Host #2	EarthLink
   Voltage	120	120	120
   Amps	15	15	20
   Fixed Price – 1 circuit	$275/mo	$325/mo	—
   Metered Price – 1 circuit	n/a	n/a	$150.45*

   * Example customer: 2/3 of cabinet full and 2-20A circuits. Price is for one of the circuits.

Our metered power option can offer significant savings throughout your entire hosting engagement with us. Not only will you have a lower initial cost, but as you grow and need to add an additional circuit to your cabinet, there is no extra charge from us, just pay for your actual usage. Whereas the fixed price providers, will charge you the full flat rate even when you might just need one extra outlet to start.

I hope it’s clear what some of the benefits of Metered Power can be. It’s time to expect your colocation provider who is offering the latest technologies in their network infrastructure to upgrade their power systems to the same century.

Rochester, NY Server Hosting and Colocation

What is Server Colocation?  Server Colocation, Server Hosting or Server Co-location is a very economical way to run a Highly Available application, without investing in Network, UPS and Cooling Redundancy.  Hardware colocation is cost effective, because you own the Hardware, and fully manage the application.  EarthLink Guarantee’s the Redundant Network, Power, Operating Temperature and Humidity.  We are a fully staffed facility that offers free remote reboot services. 

Pricing for colocating a 1U server at our Rochester, NY facility starts at $89/mo with 1Mbps Dedicated Bandwidth.  Some Frequently Asked Questions about Rochester Colocation:

Can I get a tour of the Datacenter Facility?

Yes, We love nothing more but to show off our Datacenter to prospective clients.  Please call us at 1-800-957-4872 or Contact us here to schedule an appointment.  You can also get information and images of what the Rochester, NY Datacenter looks like here.

Can I ship my Server to EarthLink?

Yes, you can mail the server to EarthLink, 1100 Pittsford Victor Rd., Pittsford, NY 14534.  Send a Support ticket to us with the Tracking Number.  Once the Server arrives at our Facility, it will be racked immediately. Please send us the Power Cables and Required Rails.  Any other information such as Manuals and Extra parts will not be stored by EarthLink.

What information do I need to configure my server? 

Upon Payment you will receive a welcome e-mail with the 4 Dedicated IP addresses, and all necessary DNS, Gateway/Subnet Information.

Where do I order online?

Visit our Server Colocation Page, and Click Get Started.  Need more server space, bandwidth or managed services?  Contact a Sales Engineer today!

LogicalSolutions.net’s May eNewsletter

Company News:

We Launched Our New Website! 
You may have already noticed, but in April we launched our new website. Now the site is 100% focused on hosting and data center services. Easily navigate throughout our new sections for server colocation, dedicated servers and virtual private servers, premium hosting services and information about our company.

A great new feature is our Virtual Photo Tour . Take a virtual walk through our facility and schedule a in person tour.

Internet Cafe
A brand new Internet Cafe is coming soon! In the next couple of months, we will be providing our colocation customers a comfortable environment to relax or work.
 
Disaster Recovery Stations
We now have disaster recovery stations available to all our colocation customers. Each station is equipped with internet access, access to the network, and phone lines. EarthLink provides full hardware DR colocation, virtual DR, off-site DR, and customized disaster recovery plans.
Learn more here. 
 
Now Offer SugarCRM Hosting
Almost 80% of small business use Excel spreadsheets to track their orders and business intelligence. Did you know SugarCRM is a cost effective way to organize, measure, and analyze your customer relationships across your growing organization? 

Why pay more with Sales Force or other expensive CRM systems. Our SugarCRM hosting solution provides unlimited users and features full administrative access. You can even signup online! 
Click here for more information.

Interested in our upcoming SugarCRM Webinar?
Contact Us for details.

Featured Blog Post:

“Is Your Data Center ‘Green’?”
by Casey Rohrer

“Is everyone really going ‘green’, or has the term just turned into a marketing gimmick?

It seems like every time I turn around, another company is claiming to be ‘green’. While a lot of these claims may be true, I have a feeling that the term ‘green’ is not used properly. Wanting to improve our environment is one-thing, but truly making an effort to do so is another.”

EarthLink is making that effort. We are aware of the issues the environment faces and we have made a conscious decision to do our part.
Read the full story.

View the Online version of our eNewsletter Here