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This is the first piece of a two-part article.

A thorough site visit of potential co-location vendors should be conducted after the RFP or evaluation process, when a shortlist of vendors has been determined.

While it can generally be assumed that a vendor has provided true and adequate information on the proposal or during the evaluation process, it is still essential to visit each facility on the shortlist, and meet the vendor to add an extra layer of confidence to the final decision.

Key Selection Criteria

When visiting the potential vendor’s co-location facilities, it is important to understand what to look for both before and during the site visit. While not every tile needs to be overturned, there should be some level of due diligence performed when meeting the vendors and taking a walk through the facilities. Use the following information, along with the ITA Premium, “Data Center Co-location Site Visit and Evaluation Checklist,” to ensure that the organization has all the information it needs to make the final decision.

(For Data Center Exchange Readers: Access a Free Data Center Co-Location RFP Template.)

Before the Site Visit

Before visiting the vendor’s facility, research can be done regarding the geographical location of the facility. Ensure that the country and/or city is economically stable before visiting the site. In some extreme cases, this may even eliminate a vendor from the shortlist.

Economic Stability

The city or country the facility is located within should be economically stable. Unstable economic conditions can increase the organization’s total operating expenses over time. Consider the following before making the trip to visit a vendor:

• Financial stability. Exchange rate swings can increase total cost of co-location, and high-unemployment rates can make the area undesirable for more qualified workers.
• Political stability. Instances such as service disruptions from any political instability that is caused by poor economic conditions can affect the co-location vendor’s availability. 

During the Site Visit

When visiting the vendor’s facility, consider the following as the organization’s representative(s) tour the building:

Access Control and Physical Security

It is important that the vendor’s site is adequately protected by physical security features and access control. Look into the following when visiting a site.

• Staffed operations control center. The vendor should have an operations control center in the data center that is staffed with employees. Although not all vendors may have staff on-site 24/7, they should have staff available, or on call in case of an emergency 24/7.
• Monitoring. Staff should conduct walk-arounds to monitor the facility on a regular basis.
• Cameras. There should be cameras present at the entrance, and all exits of the building. Cameras should also be present in the equipment room itself.
• Card access. The data center should be secured with card access that allows only card holders to enter and exit the data center area of the building and any support rooms. Cards should only allow entrants to exit for the same doors they entered. In cases of larger data centers, they may only provide access to designated areas where a client’s equipment is located.
• Limited access to data center. The data center should only be accessible through the main door of the equipment room. There should not be any access to the data center through any support rooms (loading docks, build room, storage room etc.). Emergency exits may exist in the data center but should be for exiting only.
• Door locks. All doors should contain secure locks within the data center building.
• Cabinet locks. All cabinets belonging to individual organizations should contain unique locks to ensure that each customer’s servers are secured in their own locked cage.
• External doors. There should not be any doors within the data center that lead to the outdoors. However, emergency exits may exist.
• Windows. There should not be any windows in the data center. This includes outdoor facing windows, and windows facing anywhere into the building.
• Outdoor walls. The safest place for the equipment room of a data center is in the middle of the facility. There should not be any walls that are connected directly to the outdoors.
• Exposed roof. The roof within the data center should not be exposed. In most instances, there should be ceiling tiles to protect equipment.

Fire Protection and Prevention

The vendor’s site should be protected from any potential fires.

Most fire protection and prevention is governed by the Authority Having Jurisdiction in the location, however, extra precautions such as a clean agent fire suppression system can differentiate vendor offerings.

• Safety procedures. All procedures should be documented and well planned in case of an emergency. The representative from the organization should be able to look over existing documents to ensure that a plan is in place.
• Emergency exit. There should be at least one emergency exit in the data center in case of a fire or other incident. Exits should be clearly marked.
• Smoke and heat detection systems. The data center should contain smoke detectors as well as heat detectors for early fire detection and prevention.
• Alarm and signaling systems. The data center should contain both alarm and signaling systems, in case of an emergency, to notify personnel in the data center and surrounding building as well as the fire department in case of a fire.
• Emergency Power Off (EPO). The data center should contain an EPO that is visible in case of emergency. The EPO should also be protected so that it cannot be hit accidentally.
• Sprinkler system. A sprinkler system should be installed in the data center. Pre-action sprinkler systems are a more ideal solution as they are less likely to leak or be set off prematurely.
• Fire extinguishers. Fire extinguishers should be placed in, and around the data center. Check fire extinguisher labels to ensure that they are maintained and checked on a regular basis.
• Other fire protection. In addition to a sprinkler system, a clean agent fire suppression system should be present in the data center. Although they are not mandatory, they are beneficial for redundancy and an added layer of protection against fire. Check the clean agent tanks to ensure they are maintained, tested, and checked on a regular basis by the supplier or the co-location vendor.

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