Maximizing Data Center Availability: Strategies from an Independent Provider

Maximizing Data Center Availability: Strategies from an Independent Provider

Authored by Derek Gillespie

As an independent provider with 20 data centers across the United States, we at 365 Data Centers know firsthand how important it is to be able to maximize data center availability in today’s digital landscape. Businesses today need more than just space and power when it comes to their data centers; they need a trusted partner dedicated to ensuring their critical infrastructure remains operational, secure, and responsive to evolving demands. Some of the robust strategies we’ve developed to ensure maximum uptime and reliability for our clients and deliver on that promise include redundancy at every level, scalable infrastructure, continuous monitoring, and more.

We implement redundancy across all critical components, including power sources, networking equipment, and hardware infrastructure. This approach minimizes the risk of downtime due to component failures. In addition, to ensure our clients’ data and systems are protected against various threats, we employ a meticulous approach to backup and recovery. This also helps us minimize downtime in case of data corruption, hardware failure, or cyber attacks. Having a proactive stance on data protection and system resilience is key to maximize uptime and maintain the trust of our clients when it comes to our ability to safeguard their valuable information and maintain business continuity.

In a similar vein, we have stringent security protocols to protect our clients’ critical infrastructure. 365 isn’t just our name; it’s our commitment to clients, who can expect 24/7/365 monitoring by trained professionals in our facilities. We also maintain strict compliance with industry standards and regulations. These measures prevent unauthorized entry and potential tampering with critical infrastructure. Plus, we continuously monitor system performance and optimize resource allocation, which allows us to adapt with agility to changing business needs and technological advancements.

When it comes to keeping up with the changes as the industry evolves rapidly, our data centers are designed with scalability in mind, allowing us to accommodate growing demand for our clients’ businesses and expand seamlessly without disrupting current operations. Our flexible services, which include customized solutions alongside standard offerings, ensure that our customers’ IT infrastructure remains adaptable and responsive. This flexibility is also reflected in the high-speed, nationwide network connectivity offered between our facilities, points of presence, and customer locations, with access to 86 carriers including top telecom and cable providers. Our carrier-neutral environments allow clients to choose their preferred network providers, ensuring optimal performance, and resilience in network connectivity.

These strategies are a few of the ways we ensure our clients’ digital infrastructure is accessible and ready to take on their needs at any time. The flexibility, tailored solutions, and personalized services we offer set us apart from larger providers while enabling us to deliver enterprise-grade solutions. Whether you’re looking for colocation, cloud, hybrid services, or managed IT solutions, 365 Data Centers is committed to keeping your critical infrastructure available and at optimal performance 24/7/365.

AI, Network Automation, and the Future of Internet Infrastructure: Some Worked and Some Played at NANOG 93

AI, Network Automation, and the Future of Internet Infrastructure: Some Worked and Some Played at NANOG 93

Preface

365 Data Center’s Vice President of Network Operations, James Ashton, was recently interviewed regarding the latest North American Network Operators’ Group (NANOG) event for HostingAdvice.com’s article, “AI, Network Automation, and the Future of Internet Infrastructure: Some Worked and Some Played at NANOG 93.” The following has been pulled from the original article.

 

In 1993, a group of network professionals came together in San Diego for the first-ever NANOG event. Fast-forward to last week, and the North American Network Operators’ Group — now an established staple in the networking community — gathered for its 93rd meeting in Atlanta, February 3-5, at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis.

Between keynote speakers, hackathons, socials, and tutorials, NANOG’s three-day sprint went without a hitch, continuing to serve as a space for networking, sharing knowledge, and discussing the latest advancements in internet technology.

“There’s no other event like this in the industry,” said Jonathan Black, NANOG’s executive director. “NANOG provides an accessible and collaborative environment where Internet professionals converge to shape the future of networking.”

James Ashton, Vice President of Network Operations at 365 Data Centers, told us, “NANOG is always a good place to catch up on what is going on in the industry that we don’t see in our normal day-to-day.”

NANOG holds three conferences per year in different cities all across North America. The last one, its 92nd event, was in Toronto, and it’s already gearing up for its 94th in Denver in mid-June, with a registration deadline of May 11 for those who are interested.

What Was Hot at NANOG 93

 

Among NANOG 93’s attendees were a diverse bunch, including enthusiasts, industry leaders, small business owners, and service providers. There were also several representatives from major companies like Google Cloud, Cisco, and Amazon Web Services.

Highlights also included talks on AI’s environmental, social, and technological impacts, with sessions on data center optics, test network labs, and IP inventory management. Undoubtedly, the hackathon and social events — trivia, pickleball, and a run club — rounded out the week.

For attendees, the value lies in being able to shed the weight and responsibilities of everyday life to get creative, insightful, and have fun among like-minded folk. Tucker Preston, Gcore’s head of edge connectivity and peering, is one of the many who continue to participate.

“I had a fantastic time at NANOG 93 in Atlanta this week,” said Preston. “In a digital-first world, there’s still no match for bringing like-minded individuals and groups of people together in-person to exchange ideas, network and discuss shared concerns, opportunities and goals.”

The event centered on how AI is crucial for managing GPU traffic, optimizing model partitioning, and ensuring smooth data flow across networks, according to Preston.

“With AI workloads becoming increasingly latency-sensitive, edge deployments and optimized architectures will be key to balancing efficiency, scalability, and performance in the AI-driven enterprise,” he added.

Network automation means more power is needed. Better flexibility, security, and real-time monitoring must be prioritized because, as networks become more automated, they need to handle changes quickly.

Preston suggested that as AI adoption accelerates, networks should prioritize scalable inference computing and optimized infrastructure to keep up with demand.

“While most open-source models can run efficiently on a handful of GPUs, larger inference workloads require well-orchestrated clusters and low-latency networking solutions,” he said.

One topic that particularly stood out for 365 Data Centers — both internally and in discussions at NANOG — was the evolution of lab and testing tools, where Ashton agrees that automation is the key to streamlining network operations.

“Containerlab and some of the other automation tools will help us streamline our current processes a good deal and hopefully make some of our lab work happen at a much faster pace,” said Ashton.

Beyond automation, 365 Data Centers plans to strengthen some of its partnerships surrounding network security and data analytics that were present at NANOG.

“We are excited for updates and new features in the Kentik Flow and DoS mitigation platform,” Ashton said. “Our partnership there has been very fruitful, and their new advances look to give us a lot more usable data than we’ve ever had access to in the past.”

Insights from Industry Leaders

 

A few notable experts in attendance included Cat Gurinsky of Apple, who participated in a panel on the future of network automation. To name a few more, Mauricio Rojas and Alejandro Guevara from Nokia led a tutorial on leveraging KRM for declarative network automation, and Chad Lamb of XKL presented a lightning talk on the evolution of optical transceivers from 10G to 800G.

Randy Zhang of Cisco discussed using AI agents for automated networking script development, while Sharada Yeluri presented on networking for AI. There were also workshops on network automation and modern approaches to designing, deploying, and testing network labs. This event’s Women in Tech panel featured key voices like Yolandi Cloete from DE-CIX and Bhawna Jain and Erin Geiger from Arelion.

Two keynote speakers were the main events of the three-day-long conference: Scott Robohn and Yun Freund.

Scott Robohn

On Monday, Robohn took the stage with his presentation, “Building Community around Network Automation.”

As the co-founder of the Network Automation Forum (NAF) and founder of the Total Network Operations (TNOps) project and podcast, Robohn’s expertise lies in his more than 30 years in the industry.

His keynote was in the form of a Q&A, focused on network automation — which he admits has been a bit slow on the uptake, but there’s no shortage of those eager to push its adoption.

Robohn highlighted the community’s growth and shared ways organizations can collaborate to continue driving network automation.

Yun Freund

Freund, the vice president of Google Cloud, Global Networking Technology, also held a keynote titled “AI-Powered Network 5.0 — A Paradigm Shift” on Tuesday.

If her name sounds familiar, it may be because she was named one of 2022-2024’s “Top 50 Women in Tech Leaders to Watch” and was also recognized as a “Woman of Influence” by the “Silicon Valley Business Journal” in 2019.

In her Q&A keynote, Freund discussed how AI/ML advancements are shaping the future of global networks.

She discussed the growing complexity of network design as hyperscalers grow, and how traditional, rigid networking approaches can’t keep up, pointing to Network 5.0 as a solution.

Hybrid Solutions: Seamlessly Integrating Colocation and Cloud Services

Hybrid Solutions: Seamlessly Integrating Colocation and Cloud Services

Authored by Eric Thelen

As enterprises navigate the complexities of digital transformation, many are discovering that a one-size-fits-all approach to application architecture and IT infrastructure no longer works. While some applications benefit from the scalability and flexibility of public clouds, others may require the security, control, performance, and cost benefits offered by colocation or data center-provided cloud services. This realization has led to the popularity of hybrid solutions, which combine these approaches.

Colocation services, often referred to as “colo,” involve housing an organization’s IT infrastructure (such as servers, storage, and networking equipment) in a third-party data center. Instead of maintaining their own data centers, businesses can rent space within these facilities, which provide power, cooling, physical security, and connectivity. At 365 Data Centers, we offer carrier-dense, state-of-the-art colocation facilities across 20 markets in the U.S., providing businesses with a secure and reliable environment for their mission-critical infrastructure. These services include 24/7/365 support, monitoring, robust power and cooling systems, high-level physical security, and compliance with industry standards.

Cloud services, on the other hand, deliver the flexibility and scalability of on-demand access to a shared pool of configurable resources, including servers, storage, and networking along with other value-added services. Public clouds have become a popular choice; however, for some applications, public cloud is not the answer. For instance, some companies seek a higher degree of control, security, and privacy for certain applications. Also, some applications are cost-prohibitive to run in public clouds due to the high costs of egress, servers, storage, and network. Further, some applications have challenges associated with latency and performance. At 365, our cloud solutions can help alleviate some of the challenges associated with public cloud.

The Power of Hybrid Solutions

By combining colocation, data center-provided clouds, and public clouds, companies can create a tailored IT architecture that addresses their unique requirements, effectively achieving the best of both worlds. For example, bandwidth-intensive, performance-sensitive applications can be hosted on customer-owned hardware in colocation or on data center-provided clouds at the edge. Not only can it be more cost-effective, but having their applications closer to their end users, achieves a better user experience. Since you can seamlessly connect these architectures to public cloud, you can still complement the benefits of public cloud to support other needs of an application.

Another use case is industries with strict regulatory requirements; a hybrid solution can strike an ideal balance. Sensitive data can be collocated in secure facilities, adhering to compliance standards such as HIPAA or data residency. Meanwhile, data and applications that do not require the same measures can leverage the scalability and flexibility of data center-provided cloud or public cloud. In a similar vein, leveraging both colocation and cloud services enhances disaster recovery and business continuity, since critical data and applications can be replicated across multiple locations.

When considering a hybrid solution, it is essential to carefully plan out application architecture and IT infrastructure to ensure seamless integration between colocation and cloud services. Keeping future growth in mind is also critical. With a well-planned hybrid solution, businesses can unlock an optimal balance of cost, performance, security, and scalability to maximize the business value of their applications.  At 365 Data Centers, we are committed to helping businesses leverage the full potential of hybrid solutions.