Data Center Connection

R

Riven

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Hi

I was wondering what type of internet connections does a Data Center in South Africa have and what does it cost them?
Reason being is we want to have a very small "Data Center" if I can call it that with about 10 cabinets and I was calling around and it seems to be a big "huh, what ?" every time I asked them.

I got the following Quotes!

Telkom 1984kb/s International IP Transit, R30 000/m
MTN Internet Dedicated Composite 8192k Nat B/width (this includes 1024k of International B/width) (4 x Diginet 2Mb/s lines) R73 000/m

Neotel, not jet available in our area, early next year!

It to me 15 different call center agents in Telkom to get to someone that have heard of MetroLAN, a product they advertise, but still no quote.

Any one with knowledge of this, please let me know where to start and what to ask for.
We font need a 10GB/s fibre connection. This will mostly be for Terminal windows servers running Remote Desktop Connections.
Our basic calculations got to the point that we would be fine to start with an 8Mb/s connection/link. Obviously up and down link.

We even considered 10 x ADSL lines, bonded to give us the uplink speed we need, but the reliability of ADSL for a "Data Center" is not really an option.
 
Hi there,

Now this is my bread and butter!

I am responsible for very large chunks of data centre infrastructure in South-Africa, in fact I currently have equipment in 6 different sites. All of these connected with multiple layer2 and 3links depending on location, each site having at-least 2gbit for inter-site communication and then a large variety of different chunks of layer3 breakouts depending on customer requirements. There are customers out there that actually have 200-300mbit 1/1 International breakout, and im not talking about ISP's here.

Must of my new business comes from companies that have done exactly what you are looking in to here, it is simply not feasible to run your own little DC unless you are talking of a far greater scale. I have heard stories where entire blade chassis have been stolen from their premises right out of their racks even, endless copper theft in the area, major power issues etc.

Take for example a large bank in the CBD, they have a 1 000 000 Litre diesel tank for their backup power should their eskom feed go down, something that happened about a year ago. Now this bank runs all of its own facilities in this location, and when the power went down they have exactly 3 days of backup power and hope that the main power source gets restored before time runs out. A tank like this cannot be refilled while generators are running and let us not start about what refilling will cost.

Anyways, with all my experience in this field I can assure you that you will be MUCH better off just renting a cage or a private suite in a proper facility and more importantly an existing facility with proper standards.

A few reasons:
- Proper network already in place, usually multitude of carriers available depending on DC. I can assure you that no company will guarantee you access to a redundant fibre-ring other than in and around their own POP's. Go and investigate why most reputable DC's are in such horrible neighbourhoods, even the newish Teraco houses are in un-expected locations. My biggest one is right in the middle of Jozi, why? Cause there's over 100gbit of fibre buried right under it :-)
- Proper power already in place, go and run the numbers for a proper generator + maintenance + fuel
- Proper cooling and ventilation already in place, same drill go and run the numbers
- Proper security already in place
- Some of your customers may already find themselves in the same facility making it easy to connect to your solution at no cost. Same goes for a backup company, backup to them in the same site and they can replicate off site as per usual.

I would got and have a look at housing my equipment at a proper facility directly with an PROPER ISP, not through a small time consumer ISP that claims to have own facilities. There are but few that will allow your own racks but then again there are but few that are in this business.

If you would like a few recommendations I would gladly help out.

Good luck!
 
Hi.
Thanks for reply.
We were thinking of Bloemfontein. We have a few customers here.
The idea is to go as profesional as possible as we even have someone willing to invest.
We have adequite floorspace available in a secure complex with Backup generators. Battery backups will also be implemented.
Our main issue is connection!
Please advise.

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I would second getting a private suite but be sure to ask about their remote hands policies (pricing, availability, etc).
 
Yes, I would have done that if we had a Data Center nearby. 400km is not nearby?
R200/m for 5u in a backroom in someones office with a 100Mb network connection (unable to find out what and the speed of the internet) is not my idea of reliable profider. This is what we have locally available, therefore the need for our own Centre


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In Bloemfontein you won't have much choice, but as it be, IS recently announced in a press release they will be building their own DC in Bloemfontein, only problem is, you will be limited to IS bandwidth unless another Network rolls out to it.

As mentioned previously, building your own DC is WAY more work than you can possibly imagine.

My 1st choice would be either Teraco JHB in Isando or Teraco CPT in Newlands/Rondebosch.

Anyways lets say you do build your own DC in a building and you do everything ect ect ect.
What you then need is for 1 or more Networks to roll out a POP (Point of Presence) at your DC. Not easily done. Alternatively if you run your own network, you can just get a huge link, or links installed from Neotel or Telkom. Alternatively make use of Dark Fiber Africa into the premises, but that gets a lot more complex.
 
Hi all. Still on this subject!
Went to the IS datacenter in Bloem, very nive but very over priced.
1/4 rack is R3800 + vat and includes 20GB bandwidth.
The 1/4 rack offers 7 usable U's so lets say I try to split the cost over 6 1U servers (+/- R630) per U it would still he darn expensive without even tacking the cost of the servers into consideration.
20GB is not even close to enough for one server and at R50/GB youll end up spending more than the rack rental on Bandwidth.
The allowed electricity consumption will most probably cover ony 4 servers use ( if I use a 25% load per server) and the R3.50/kwh will also add up to a nifty invoice.

Seems we'll have to wait for DFA to complete there infrastructure in June 2012 before any alternative pricing would help with the cost reduction in bandwidth charges.

Hopefully we'll be able to find someone willing to assist with the backend of the network by then!

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