The Secret Life of Data

Posted on January 18, 2011 by Jordan Gross

Data needs somewhere to snuggle up to..

One clear trend coming out of this years survey is the keenness for more mobile applications (shocker #1) and more social media integration (shocker #2). Therefore it seems apt to remind everyone that all these wonderful Internet resident apps, objects, websites and databases need to reside somewhere. It’s a little like that scene in Enemy of the State where you dive down into the data path between the “eye in the sky” and the server with the whirring tape drive in the basement. Data has to live somewhere.

So where does data live these days? Despite the glossy finish that many new fangled “cloud” providers are putting on things, most data ultimately resides on white box servers, one stacked on top of another. Buying a “cloud” service is no guarantee of reliability, performance or redundancy; in fact, its normally an excuse to be extraordinarily opaque about your infrastructure. It’s fascinating really, particularly in the context of the obsession of the last ten years of people wanting more and more information out of their service providers (How much capacity does your network have, what specification are your servers etc).

So just when your starting to consider your shiny new iPhone application and where in the rolling green hills you might host it [to ensure uptime, speed and reliability], I want you to take a deep soothing breath.

Cloud is normally just based on the same hardware and software as the industry has based Share, VPS and Managed Hosting on for a number of years. Many Cloud services are actually just a slightly tweaked VPS solution, which has been re-badged.

The questions you should be asking should still be the same as you always did, don’t accept companies that are deliberately opaque. Also remember that what you need to think about when looking for hosting for anything, is the service you get; with correct attention given to the story behind the hosting company you select and the technology they deploy to deliver your solution.

Practically speaking, there are a few things to consider:

You want someone who can deliver really good technical support 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, not just a security guard on the end of a phone; test your prospective provider out with a well placed call at 2am and see how they respond.

You should also be looking at Service Levels, i.e. you want a contractual binding service commitment with penalties and a break clause [in case things go badly wrong].

Oh and one more thing, who are the people you’re dealing with? Do they fill you with confidence? Take the time to look beyond the sales person and meet the people who are actually going to deliver your solution after you sign on the dotted line.

So in summary, be sure to peel back the label and understand whatever hosting solution catches your eye. You don’t want to end up with your data on the 1970’s whirring tape machine in the underground bunker.

>View the data behind Jordan’s article and other relevant articles in the 5th Annual Online Customer Engagement Survey 2011 – available now via Econsultancy and cScape.

About Jordan Gross

Jordan is the Chief Executive Officer for Ultraspeed. He can be found on Twitter at @jordan120.