[Asterisk-biz] asterisk server colocation

[alex at pilosoft.com]

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004, Matthew Simpson wrote:

> Our company has been offering Asterisk Server colocation, and we would
> like some feedback from the * community on colo.
We do the same, so I think I can give you good feedback ;)

> 
> 1. What would your ideal Asterisk colo provider offer ?
Less hassle, 100% reliability. Nobody wants to debug their provider's 
stuff.

> 2. Would you rather colo Asterisk servers that you supply or would you 
> rather lease servers provided by the colocation provider?
Lease servers with proper TDM cards.

> 3. What is the biggest reason you're not already colocating your
> Asterisk [cost? availability? distance? etc.]
I can't answer this one.

> 4. What is the number one thing that would turn you off about a
> potential colocation?
A mickey mouse business. Which unfortunately, what most people colocate 
in. There's serious client education issue to be raised here. People 
colocate in all the wrong places and then worry about packet loss, etc 
etc, instead of colocating with someone who *is* a carrier, who can give 
them TDM, or colocation in a real carrier facility where there are 100 
carriers who can give TDM.

> We're offering the following features and would appreciate any
> feed-back, on or off list:
> 
> * Tier 1 Data centers -- no "basement IT", our premeier buildings are
> 1950 Stemmons Freeway, Dallas TX [infomart] and 2323 Bryan Suite 700
> [our own colo, not shared -- same floor with MCI and Qwest] Dallas, TX
For comparison, we also have presence in carrier facilities (60 Hudson, 
9th floor-TelX and 13th/XO, 111 8th Avenue -room 1515/NYCX, 25 
Broadway/Telehouse) as well as operating our own facility at 55 Broad St 
(we have ALGX/XO/MCI/Qwest fiber gear 100ft away from our DC). Our core 
links are CWDM and Sonet over our dark fiber, which means TDM stays TDM no 
matter in which colo you take them.

> * xLEC access -- We are a CLEC and can give you TDM trunks or IAX/SIP
> VoIP access into our network as well as access into the tier 1 guys such
> as Qwest, MCI, SBC, etc.  Connections directly to carriers with no loops
> saves you money!
We aren't a CLEC, but we can give TDM just as well. Of course, being CLEC
has certain legal advantages for you, nd doing SS7 is a huge plus - if you
are doing any sort of inbound traffic, SS7 is great.

As far as "connections directly to carriers", how do you do that?  
Straight resale? How do you bill for these "direct" connections?

> * Quality bandwidth -- We have multiple providers coming in to both
> buildings dedicated to VoIP, servers aren't sharing bandwidth with
> webhost farms. We are carrier neutral so you can bring in bandwidth from
> other carriers.

> * Support -- If your CPU fan dies on Christmas Day, we can send a tech
> to replace it.
We have 24/7 support in our facility and 60H/25B are within 1 mile so :)

I would add that it is important to have staff with clue. There are enough
of mickey mouse operations by people who trying to make a buck by "buying 
1 million minutes at 1.29c and selling 1000 accounts with 1000 minutes at 
1.3c". That business is silly. 

-alex