With increasing frequency I get asked why we’re so “high” on our Chicago-land datacenter. There’s no question that we’re incredibly proud of our flag ship facility in Elk Grove Village (a suburb of Chicago) – so I saw it prudent to take a few moments to highlight the top reasons why you should host with us at CHI1:
1) Taking “Enterprise-grade” literally: Our CHI1 facility is housed inside the world class Dupont Fabros Technology facility. This brand new datacenter was purpose built, ensuring that no single point of failure exists throughout the entire infrastructure. “Purpose built” is important, because many dedicated server and colocation providers operate inconspicuously from shopping mall style datacenters. These “facilities” often slack on very important redundant cooling, power generation and fire prevention systems. That might not concern budget-conscious consumers, but for any business that understands the cost of being offline, the small savings that these other facilities offer isn’t worth the risk. Our operation at CHI1 employs multiple redundant systems for all aspects of our infrastructure.
2) Using the best stuff: ColoCrossing has made the commitment to a Cisco-only network. And CHI1 is no different from any of our other world-wide facilities in that regard. Being a Cisco only shop means we’ve made the strategic investment in the absolute best equipment available. Other outfits offer switches and routers for a fraction of what Cisco charges, but let’s be honest, nothing moves the packets quite like a Cisco. When 100% uptime is the name of the game, I’ll take a Cisco, thank you.
3) Employing the right people: Even the best datacenters can’t operate optimally (or at all really) without the right talent at the helm. Our facilities team is the best in the business. Alex Vial, ColoCrossing’s VP of datacenter operations knows his stuff, and after 7 years in the position he doesn’t need to “learn as you go.” You won’t find a single tier 1 technician at ColoCrossing either, our customers enjoy a 92% first-point-of-contact resolution; meaning 92% of all customer issues are resolved quickly and effectively by the first expert they interact with. At ColoCrossing there is no “waiting for someone who understands my problem.”
I could go on for hours about our CHI1 facility and our customer centric principles, but I’ll spare you the dissertation. If you’re interested in more information, contact our sales department at sales<*at*>colocrossing.com or give us a ring (1-800-518-9716).
– Jon Biloh
