Disaster recovery planning isn’t just about what your digital response will be during a catastrophic event. Planning and selecting your colocation data center’s geographical location will play a significant factor in the event of an emergency.
Why? Because where your plan’s data center geography must consider regional tectonic and climatic stability, power requirements, technical resources, and physical and cybersecurity. It’s more than just the location of your disaster recovery data center, but about what’s nearby.
Why is data center geography important?
Every aspect of a backup data center is about preventing loss in the event of a disaster, and its geography is no exception. Businesses line coastal fault lines and many other locations that, while attractive in many respects, are prone to natural disasters. So when planning for disaster recovery, you will want to focus on backup sites with optimal data center geography.
Where is the best data center geography?
The best geographical location for a disaster recovery data center boils down to several common-sense items. You will want a location with access to reliable energy, that can handle your data requirements, and is relatively safe. Let’s break down those three ideas a little bit more.
Reliable energy and data center geography
Your data center’s geography should take reliable energy into account. That means it’s not importing energy from somewhere else or relying on a major power grid. Many of our data centers run on local hydroelectric power for this reason. A side benefit of selecting a disaster recovery data center adjacent to a hydroelectricity source is that your energy will be renewable, often meeting other business criteria.
Data needs and data center geography
To support your demanding storage and compute requirements, your secondary data center, as with your primary, will require robust cooling, power redundancy, security, and technical operators. These factors are essential, as they are often not as readily available in remote locations or less-capable data centers. Some locations, like our central Washington campuses, are just a few hours from major metros from which to source talent. We’ve found that many professionals are eager to leave the hustle of city living while retaining the benefits of a high-tech position.
Tectonic stability and data center geography
It’s imperative to ensure that your data center geography is tectonically stable and less prone to natural disasters in general, especially if your primary data center is not. Of course, you can’t predict disasters, but selecting a location that minimizes the risk could be the difference between a significant outage and a hiccup.
Get the peace of mind that comes with better data center geography
Every day, your organization relies on an unimpeded flow of data. That’s just the reality of 21st-century business.
Therefore, disaster recovery planning for your data centers is critical to your business continuity. When you plan for a disaster, whether natural or cyber, you decide your organization’s fate. So give yourself peace of mind by planning early and often.
When your planning takes you to data center geography, let us know! So many world-class enterprises have selected our tectonically-stable, hydroelectrically-powered, and conveniently-located central WA data centers for both primary and backup sites.
Schedule a tour or contact an expert today.
