outsourcing the data center

[td1031]

Anyone outsourced their data center? What were the pros and cons? Would you do it again? Our CEO is on a kick to look at outsourcing. We have 40 servers in our own data center with UPS backup and our building already has a generator. We currently have three employees in our infrastructure staff. I feel that outsourcing doesnt gain us anythinng except maybe a NOC staff to monitor our hardware 24x7.

Advice would be greatly accepted.

 

[freshskils]

it all depends on how big your network is. you have to ask if you really need a full time NOC staff just looking at the equipment all day. now if you have a huge network with equipment always failing on you, then it might be worth it

 

[mbourne2006]

It's quite a big area, many ups & downs...

ON the up: your staff get to concentrate on the really groundbreaking project work that adds long term value to your business, whilst farming off the dull stuff like managing hardware support contracts, patching, O/S upgrades, etc.

DOWN: your staff feel sidelined and under threat; you may not feel that your infrastructure has the flexibility to respond to rapid changes in business requirements.

I guess the most important thing is this: if you go down the route of outsourcing some/all of your DC operations, make sure that you find a partner with whom you can build a good relationship, and a genuine feeling of working together to keep your business running.

My $0.02