To Co-Lo or lease?

[Optegris]

Originally posted by Duane:

colo actually isn't any more expensive than leased. We thought it would be but decided to do it anyway. The monthly payments to Dell (0% credit) and to the data centre add up to the same as the leased server charges. Once the servers are paid off we'll be saving money but still providing an improved service (our leased servers were in the US, I see yours are already UK) Plus there are other tax benefits to doing things this way. Look into it, hopefully you'll be as pleasently surprised as I was.

I don't want to hijack this thread so if you need more info please PM me or start a new thread.

Yeh I have looked into the financials and the numbers do stack up. I get pretty good rates on leased servers and could on co-lo as well.

The biggest thing that has always put me off is with leased servers, if hardware breaks I have a two hour SLA to get it fixed. With co-lo that responsibility falls back to me unless I want to pay on site hands and eyes which jacks the price back up...

 

[DuaneJackson]

That's something that we worried about too.

We took the position that we had never had major hardware problem and if there was an issue we could get hands and eyes sorted pretty quickly. We don't pay a monthly fee for hands and eyes, just when needed. Actually, I think 40 minutes or so per month may be included in the colo price.

Also I'm fortunate that my office is at London Bridge and the servers are a couple of miles east at Harbour Exchange in Docklands (www.interhouse.net). So if I need to get there in a hurry, I can.

 

[Optegris]

I am going to have look closer into it I think. As I am based in Darlington (North East) and the servers are also at Interhouse, relying on site engineers is a priority for me...

In the 2+ years I've been leasing I've only ever had one hard disk die and that was a non-critical one so I here you about the hardware...

At least until I can afford the private helicopter

 

[DuaneJackson]

Good to har you'll have a closer look. One of the best business decisions I've made in the last year. Another tha springs to mind was hiring a school leaver as an admin/PA person. She's bloody great.

As for the chopper. Lets make it a bit sooner - once you're half way to affording it and I am too we can go halves and sort out a time share : )

 

[Optegris]

:lol: You're on...

 

[Rob Holmes]

Hey guys - I've been tied up all day and missed this thread.

We lease and co-lo in 3 datacentres - I have to say that the leasing has proved the least hassle of the two because of the hands on factor at 3am

In 2 out of the 3 datacentres we use we can have hands on in between 20 and 40 minutes and have had to on more than one occasion this year.

You can both borrow my helicopter if you like.

Rob

 

[Optegris]

You see thats an important point. Currently with my leased servers if the RAM goes bad or a disk falls over in the dead of night, theres a tick on it straight away...

Next friday ok for the whirly bird Rob?

 

[MichaelG]

We co-locate and our provider includes as part of package, hands-on support.

We are thinking of lease a few servers in the USA - mainly for backup and SEO

Anyone know of any good reliable US host?

 

[SuffolkDesigns]

Hi,

We can provide servers in the US, self managed or fully managed. PM me with the spec that you want and I will work out a good deal for you.