In a former life, I worked for a small IT services firm who managed the networks of small to medium-sized businesses in our area. The customers we saw often housed their servers in a spare closet somewhere in the office. Gasp! Poor, scared servers left in hot, dark rooms where employees (and sometimes even outsiders) could tinker with them or even kidnap their little bits for good!
Our goal was to provide tender loving care for this equipment, but the issue of security − both physical and virtual − was always the pink elephant in the room. Housing the servers in-house gave the client a false sense of security that their spare office full o’ terabytes was A-OK. But in reality, overheating, lack of controlled access and many missed versions of software updates spelled a case of neglect worthy of a call to computer protective services− if, er, there were such a thing.
Flash forward to today. No, its not deja vu− there are still some out there practicing what I have dubbed DSRCA (Domestic Server Room Closet Abuse). Don’t get me wrong− there are many businesses out there that treat their on-premise server room equipment with the utmost TLC. But once you start taking a machete into the server closet/cubicle/coat room (or what have you), just to find your way through the jungle of tangled cables and cords, its time for a change.
Solutions like managed hosting and colocation give you options so you can safely nurture your hardware and data until it decides what it wants to be when it grows up (maybe a Doctorate of cloud is in the cards?). Data centers today provide the necessary security precautions like key-card controlled access, biometric fingerprint and retina scanners, plus virtual firewalls, security updates and patches if you go the managed hosting route.
Ensuring your data and equipment is protected should be at the top of your list at any stage of your business, but if you find yourself in any of the above-mentioned cases of DSRCA, don’t beat yourself up too much. We can help. After all, caring for your IT Infrastructure is what we do best.
Looking for more information on security or IT managed services? Check out our features overview for colocation or managed hosting services.
