Neutral Colos Hawk

Posted: 1/2003

special report
To Serve & Protect

Neutral Colos Hawk
peace of mind

By Khali Henderson

THE REALITIES OF THE POST-SEPT. 11 world have been visited on numerous businesses, perhaps none more so than the IT and telecom infrastructure providers that keep us connected to each other and to our critical business data and applications. Purveyors of neutral colocation facilities and services have found themselves in a unique position to placate service providers' and end user customers' fears that their infrastructure is vulnerable.

It isn't so much that these companies have stepped up security to fill a void -- in fact, for the most part, they haven't. It's that clients and prospects now are weighing the security aspects of offers more heavily in buying decisions and disaster planning. Concerns range from physical and procedural security at the site to the diversity of networks and providers that could be incapacitated by terrorism, natural disasters or a financial implosion.

"Over the last nine months what has become most important to the customer is the viability of our business and how secure our facility is," says Mario Galvez, vice president of marketing at neutral colo provider Switch and Data. "It used to be location and connectivity. They still look at that, but it's secondary."

Adds Jay Adelson, founder and CTO of Equinix Inc., "Post 9/11 [business continuity] meant not just ensuring availability, but securing against threat."

Equinix, a neutral colo provider serving about 90 percent of the world's Internet networks with peering, transit and traffic exchange requirements, has created the Internet Business Exchange (IBX) Security System, which manages the human traffic in its IBXs. For example, all employees and customer employees have background checks and maintain profiles on site for live security guards to access. Further, biometric hand geometry scans are required for entry at every door. Mantraps -- so named for the procedure of closing the door behind a person before allowing them to open the door ahead -- prevent unauthorized personnel from tagging along. Surveillance cameras watch every square inch and are monitored in real time by security personnel. Cabinets and cages are secured with kinetic locks. On top of that, a security guard patrols the data center.

While this is just a partial list of the physical/procedural controls in place, you get the idea they're worthy of the likes of Mission Impossible's Ethan Hunt.

These types of controls in varying degrees were cited as part of the arsenals of other neutral colo providers, like Switch and Data, which operates 30 centers nationwide, and eXchange Colocation LLC, which serves about 30 carriers in its facility at 200 Paul Ave. in San Francisco.

Mark R. Hansen, director of operations and colocation services for eXchange, concurs with Galvez and Adelson that customers have intensified their security assessments. "Customers always have been concerned about basic security (e.g. protecting their data), but now they are more interested in the physical security." They have caught customers "testing" the system, he adds. "Our procedures work," Hansen says.

eXchange owns the building and the property where its colo facility resides, allowing it to control common areas, the exterior of the building and the grounds. Perimeter fencing, surveillance cameras and a manned gate are among the additional security measures eXchange has employed, says William Wilde, vice president and CTO.

And, post-9/11, eXchange has closed its loading docks and implemented tight controls over equipment deliveries. For its part, Switch and Data is upgrading its security program with remote monitoring of the surveillance cameras, enabling its NOCs to see inside other colo facilities as a backup.

While these measures would be missed if they weren't in place, ultimately there is only so much a network service provider can do to ensure the physical security of its equipment, says Adelson. "9/11 showed us the limits to how useful physical security can be. A harder question is what are you doing to make sure it's not gone," he says, referring to the hypothetical destruction of the data center or provider networks.

From that vantage, it is easy to see why both carriers and enterprise users are flocking to neutral providers that can offer them the option of redundant facilities for their equipment, as well as a choice of network providers. eXchange President and CEO John O. Wilson says its primary base of service provider customers now want to connect to three or four carriers, up from just two pre-9/11.

eXchange offers a choice of 30 carriers, with forecasts for 50 by the end of 2003. Switch and Data connects to 120 carriers, and Equinix connects to 75 carriers.

In addition to carrier choice, eXchange offers diverse fiber entrances into its facility. If one of its termination rooms catches fire, as an example, there would still be service from the other direction.

Equinix's Adelson says geographic diversity also has become important to carrier and enterprise clients. He says Equinix has helped carriers add multihoming services for Web hosting clients concerned about the risks of single sourcing.

The demand has its limits. Besides diverse routes, Wilde says eXchange anticipated in 1998 that customers would become concerned about redundant facilities. "Almost no one was concerned about that," he says.

And after Sept. 11, the company is seeing demand for disaster recovery facilities among companies in the financial sector, but, says Wilson, "Candidly, they are reluctant to spend the money now because of the downturn." The company has backup space in Santa Clara, but so far no one is using it.

Switch and Data's Galvez says customers are looking at more than one site for primary and secondary data and even backup in two locations -- however, many are still in the planning phases and implementation is a next step.