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)