Data centers: The heart of the Net
Data centers: The heart of the Net
By. Vishnu K. Mahmud
JAKARTA (JP): There is a silver lining in the midst of all the
fallen dot coms: infrastructure. Around the world, while many
websites and Internet businesses are going bankrupt, the data
centers, Internet connection providers and other businesses that
support the backbone of the new economy are actually thriving.
World class data centers like Above.net and Exodus provide
corporations and Internet Service Providers (ISP) a place to host
their servers as well as access to fast Internet connections.
GlobalHostNet, an Indonesian based data center, has recently
opened its doors to service the Indonesian market.
Why even host in a data center? Don't most corporations host
their own servers? Theoretically that is possible. However, if
you wish to put your business on the web on your own, you must be
ready for some heavy-duty investment.
You would at the very least need state of the art servers (for
clients to access your content), emergency power generators (if
the electricity goes out), multiple Internet connections (if one
ISP goes down) and 24-hour support (if anything else goes wrong).
After all, you don't want your potential clients go to your
website and find a blank page (or worse, "Page not Found").
Why even host in Indonesia? Can't you get reliable service
and connections in the U.S.? Ian Whalley, CEO of GlobalHostNet,
thinks differently.
"If the majority of users are local then the performance and
costs can be improved greatly with localization," he insists.
And he has a point.
It used to be that most Indonesian dotcoms were hosted in the
United States. But since the fall of Nasdaq, the scarcity of
capital to further invest in Internet startups and the perpetual
rise of the dollar, many Indonesian companies are finding it
rather difficult to co-locate their servers overseas.
In addition to the costs, it takes longer for Indonesian
Internet users to connect to foreign-based servers. For example,
if the user in Jakarta wants to connect to a server in Hamburg,
the connection may end up (depending on the user's ISP) going via
Singapore, the U.S., England then Germany.
The connection cannot go from Jakarta straight to Hamburg
(unless the user dials up direct!). Lest you forget, the
Internet is like a gigantic spider-like (world wide) web.
This is where localization comes in. Instead of the Jakarta
user connecting via many points to connect to an Indonesian
server based in the U.S. (for example), the user can connect to
the Jakarta server using fewer points (or "hops" as the Internet
lingo goes) and thus connect and download the server's pages
faster. The user is more likely to return to a website that
offers faster connection rather than a "good site" that takes
five minutes to load a page.
Corporations are now more likely to outsource their
Information Technology and Internet divisions. While the company
is still in charge of content and e-commerce transactions, data
centers like GlobalHostNet could provide the hardware, Internet
connectivity and other services. Basically, the data center would
lease space and baby-sit the server.
"Babysitting" a server is by no means an easy job. A data
center must provide the server an adequate amount of bandwidth
for hundreds (if not thousands) of users to access the server at
the same time.
In addition, they must have redundant Internet connections so
if one connection goes down (by a ship's anchor cutting a major
communications pipeline in Australia for example - true story!),
another fast connection is ready to pick up the slack. The data
center must also have emergency backup power supplies, fire-
control systems and security management (read anti-hacker)
solutions.
Jakarta based GlobalHostNet, recently acquired by the South
African MIH group, has all of the above and more. Housed in the
Elektrindo building, the company has professional managed
services such as 24/7 Network Monitoring (to ensure efficient and
safe connectivity for the server), load balancing (to ensure the
work load is distributed equally among all the servers within a
website) and migration services (moving from one software or
hardware to another).
For companies that would like to outsource their non-Internet
IT network, Hostnet also provides systems housing. Thus, for a
monthly fee, HostNet (in partnership with hardware vendors) can
provide and manage centralized network facilities for a company
scattered all over the nation.
As browsing and access speed are sometimes a prime
consideration for hosting services, GlobalHostNet is a heavy
proponent of "peering" or linking directly to local ISP's. This
would help skip over any bottleneck at the local exchanges of the
web (especially during peak hours). Ian also says that bandwidth
is extended in line with their client's requirements as HostNet
is a guaranteed bandwidth provider rather then shared (with other
client's servers).
Such services and facilities are a major financial
undertaking. State of the art security equipment and a non-
toxic, non-corrosive fire suppressant system alone can make a
dent in anyone's budget. The first phase of GlobalHostNet
consists of the 600m2 data facility with expansion plans in the
works. Ian states that for a fully N+1 on-line data center, costs
can go up to $2,500 per square meter.
HostNet, like Above.net, only deals with corporate and large
organizations. However, they do have partners that handle the
SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) market using their facilities
and network.
International Data Corporation has predicted that the market
for managed services will jump from $17 billion in 1999 to $36
billion in 2004. And as more Indonesians (and the world) join
the Internet, an infrastructure for constantly growing power and
bandwidth will be needed. So despite the death of many dotcoms
that you may read about, there is one segment of the industry
that shall continue to strive.
For more information about data centers, log on to
www.globalhostnet.com or www.above.net. (vmahmud@yahoo.com)