Connectivity Is Not Created Equal

Combined, these four standards—latency, capacity, security, and cost—make up the basic connectivity requirements of most enterprises. Moving beyond rudimentary connectivity, though, we find that there are specific requirements that each vertical needs in order to thrive, and while they fall into the same four categories already discussed, each vertical has its own unique cocktail of requirements that are advantageous for its particular sector. Here are a few examples:

• Financial services firms, in order to keep up with fluctuating market data and submillisecond changes in stocks, need connections that are hypersecure and experience next to no latency, because even just a millisecond of latency could mean the difference between success and failure for organizations operating in this sector.
• Digital media companies must handle an extremely high volume of data-heavy content—movies, music, photos, video games, and more—quickly and efficiently to maximize the quality of experience of their services for end users and avoid inconsistent or pixelated images. This necessitates a superior level of capacity and unwavering performance.
• Telco companies require steady connectivity with a minimum of jitter so as to avoid poor call quality, echo and call feedback. Many consumers rely on near perfect uptime for phone and data connections, so proper connectivity is essential if service providers hope to deliver good customer service.
• Cloud computing companies and cloud service providers demand global connectivity and depend on strong, fast connections with key IP partners to deliver their high-performance services and solutions to users worldwide.

Each of these verticals will use a different formula to meet its connectivity needs, but some companies may need access to a variety of connectivity types. For example, an advertising executive may require the connectivity common among financial services firms to engage in real-time bidding for online advertising space, while the digital media aspect will be vital when it comes to sharing large media files with coworkers and clients.

To address its multitude of individual requirements, an organization should partner with wireless carriers, internet service providers (ISPs) and internet exchanges to secure leased lines, IP transit, peering arrangements, and physical cabling. But with so many connections for just one company, the result can be a jaw-dropping monthly bill and a high potential for complexity issues. That’s why many companies will find that carrier-neutral colocation data centers, which split the rent between several different tenants, are able to offer the benefits of numerous connections at an affordable price, helping them simplify matters while maintaining strong business productivity.

Neutrality is the key point here, as some data centers may provide connectivity through only one wireless carrier. But carrier-neutral facilities allow data-center tenants to develop partnerships with a variety of carriers, ISPs and internet exchanges so they can set up the ideal connectivity environment for their individual needs and preserve uptime should one carrier go down.

It’s important for an organization to conduct adequate research and ask the right questions as it shops for space within such a facility to ensure that a data-center provider can supply the necessary connectivity for a particular vertical business segment. Some have found data-center communities particularly useful, as these superconnected, industry-specific environments provide easy access to strategic endpoints outside the data center via ultralow latency connections within one facility. Because of their proximity to one another—or, more specifically, the proximity of their data—participants are able to derive increased value from existing business relationships while also building new relationships and generating new value and revenue. In addition to these built-in networks of like-minded companies, the owners of community data centers have put specific effort into developing the types of connections that are needed within a given industry rather than the generic connectivity often found in such data centers.

As connectivity grows in complexity, it will become increasingly important for data centers to provide the connectivity that each vertical segment demands. One day it’s possible that this will be a universal offering and, like so many other services within a data center, no longer a point of differentiation. But until that day, enterprises must prioritize colocation facilities that are carrier neutral and can provide the optimal connectivity venues to ensure consistent, high-quality performance for their vertical-specific needs.