Server Room Design, Data Center Migration and Managed Hosting

Value engineer, scope, deliver, commission, then managed support

Finance 100% of your server room or data center project

Three options for where your servers live

Managed Data Center Hosting in Phoenix

BTI offers managed data center hosting at the Iron Mountain AZP-1 data center in Phoenix, where BTI's Phoenix office is located. It is a clear option alongside an on-site server room and the cloud:

• Smart hands. BTI engineers are on site to power-cycle, swap, cable and install equipment, so your team does not have to travel.
• Co-managed monitoring and support for your network. BTI watches your hosted equipment and network and works with your IT team through co-managed IT.
• Any platform, your hardware or ours. Hosting can run any platform. Customers supply servers and storage from their own vendors or buy them through BTI.
• Disaster recovery failover. Critical systems can fail over to the Phoenix data center when your primary site is down, with failover tested before you need it. See also backup and disaster recovery with Datto and Cove.

The facility. Power and internet reliability at the Iron Mountain AZP-1 facility are best in class: 41 MW of power capacity, 2N+1 generator redundancy, N+1 cooling, a design built to Tier III standards that is concurrently maintainable, 40+ on-site network providers, multiple diverse fiber entry points, and direct cloud on-ramps to AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud, per Iron Mountain. Iron Mountain also describes the site as having a low natural disaster risk profile.

Facility security and compliance (Iron Mountain). The Iron Mountain AZP-1 facility is a very high security site: badge and iris biometric access to the data floor, 24/7/365 on-site security monitoring, and Iron Mountain's SOC 2 Type II reports, ISO 27001 and ISO 22301 certifications, PCI DSS, HIPAA compliance and FedRAMP authorization (see Iron Mountain's AZP-1 page).

Facility specifications and certifications belong to Iron Mountain. BTI provides the managed hosting, smart hands, monitoring, support and failover.

Moving off VMware? Compare VMware alternatives, including hardware hosted by BTI in Phoenix.

Business continuity for Los Angeles. Many of BTI's larger Los Angeles clients with on-premises systems colocate network equipment and servers in Phoenix for business continuity against earthquakes and other natural disasters in Southern California, with disaster recovery failover. Iron Mountain describes the Phoenix facility as having a low natural disaster risk profile, so critical systems can keep running from Phoenix if a quake or other disaster takes the Los Angeles site down. Chicago businesses can also keep an out-of-region disaster recovery site in BTI's Phoenix Iron Mountain facility. BTI's smart hands team handles the on-site work, so your staff never has to travel. To talk through hosting, call the Phoenix team at 480-272-8728 or book a free consultation.

Server room design: what a good room needs

• Power. A UPS sized for the load and runtime you need, rack PDUs, dedicated circuits, and a plan for generator or graceful shutdown.
• Cooling. Cooling that runs all year, not office HVAC that shuts off at night, with hot and cold aisles in larger rooms.
• Racks and space. Racks with room to grow, cable management, and blanking panels.
• Cabling. Organized, labeled and tested copper and fiber.
• Monitoring. Temperature, humidity, water and power sensors with alerts.
• Physical security. Access control on the door and cameras, from BTI's security team.
• Fire suppression. Coordinated with your fire protection contractor.

Data center migration and relocation

Moving the whole office as well? See relocation and expansion location IT. Moving servers to Azure instead? See server and cloud migration.

What drives the cost

• Room size and the power and cooling load.
• Number of racks, UPS units and PDUs.
• New cabling and cable testing.
• Access control, cameras and monitoring.
• Migration scope, after-hours work and any hosting.

Each item is a separate line in the proposal. BTI can arrange 3.99% vendor financing for 100% of the project, including equipment, labor and consulting, for qualified buyers, subject to credit approval.

Server rooms and data centers in your city

Related services

• Protect the room and what is in it: cybersecurity assessment and network security.
• Plan the architecture first: infrastructure consulting.
• Upgrade the network at the same time: network upgrade.

Why BTI for server rooms and data centers

• One team for design, power, cooling, cabling, access control, cameras, migration and support.
• Managed data center hosting in Phoenix with smart hands, co-managed monitoring and DR failover.
• Over 40 years in business, 24/7 NOC/SOC, ISO 27001 compliant governance, independently reviewed through the TAG ISO 27001 Compliance Program.
• 3.99% vendor financing for 100% of the project.

Glossary: the terms in this page, spelled out

UPS (uninterruptible power supply)

a battery unit that keeps equipment running through short power losses and lets it shut down cleanly. Examples: The UPS rides through a 10 second outage. "Size the UPS for the new switches."

PDU (power distribution unit)

a power strip built for racks, often with monitoring or remote switching. Examples: "The PDU shows the rack is drawing 2 kW." Remote PDU lets an engineer power-cycle a frozen device.

Precision cooling

cooling built for equipment rooms that runs all year and controls temperature and humidity, unlike office HVAC that may shut off at night. Examples: A ductless split unit dedicated to the server room. In-row cooling between racks in a larger room.

Hot / cold aisle

arranging racks so cool air enters the front of equipment and hot exhaust is kept apart. Examples: Racks face each other across a cold aisle. Blanking panels stop hot air looping back.

Rack unit (U)

the standard height of equipment in a server rack, 1.75 inches. Examples: A 42U rack holds the switches, firewall, servers and UPS. Leaving 2U free for growth.

Environmental monitoring

sensors that alert on temperature, humidity, water or power problems in an equipment room. Examples: A temperature alert at night before the servers overheat. A water sensor under the raised floor.

Access control

the system of badges, readers, door controllers and software that decides who can open which door, and when. Examples: Only IT staff badges open the server room. The door log shows who entered after hours.

Cable testing

testing each installed cable with a cable tester to prove it meets its rated performance. Examples: Every Cat 6A run is tested before the racks go live. The test report is part of the as-builts.

Smart hands

on-site, hands-on help inside a data center: an engineer who can power-cycle a server, swap a drive, move a cable, check a light or install equipment for you. Examples: Smart hands reseat a failed drive at 2 a.m. "Ask smart hands to check the link light on port 12."

DR failover (disaster recovery failover)

switching your critical systems to a second site when the primary site is down, then switching back when it is fixed. Examples: The file server fails over to the Phoenix data center during an outage at the office. A failover test proves the second site works before you need it.

Colocation

renting rack space, power and cooling in a professional data center instead of running your own server room. Examples: BTI's Phoenix office is colocated inside the Iron Mountain data center. A firm moves its servers to colocation to retire a closet.

Tier III design

a data center design standard in which power and cooling can be maintained without shutting down the equipment they serve (concurrently maintainable). Examples: Iron Mountain says AZP-1 is built to Tier III standards. A generator is serviced while the data hall stays powered.

N+1 / 2N+1

redundancy levels: N+1 means one spare beyond what is needed; 2N+1 means a full second set plus one more spare. Examples: N+1 cooling: one extra cooling unit beyond the load. 2N+1 generators: two full sets of generators plus one spare.

Cloud on-ramp

a direct private connection from a data center to a cloud provider, such as AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute or Google Cloud Interconnect. Examples: Hosted servers reach Azure over ExpressRoute instead of the public internet. A backup copy moves to the cloud over a direct connection.

SOC 2 Type II (System and Organization Controls 2, Type II)

an independent report on how a service organization's security controls operated over a period of time, under AICPA standards. Examples: Iron Mountain publishes SOC 2 Type II reports for its AZP-1 facility. A customer's auditor asks the data center for its latest SOC 2 Type II report.

ISO 27001 (International Organization for Standardization 27001)

the international standard for an information security management system. Examples: Iron Mountain lists ISO 27001 certification for AZP-1. A security policy, risk register and internal reviews are part of an ISO 27001 program.

ISO 22301 (International Organization for Standardization 22301)

the international standard for a business continuity management system. Examples: Iron Mountain lists ISO 22301 certification for AZP-1. A tested plan for keeping operations running during a disaster.

PCI DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)

the security standard for organizations that store, process or transmit payment card data. Examples: Iron Mountain lists PCI DSS for AZP-1. A retailer hosting card systems asks for the facility's PCI DSS documentation.

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)

the US law that sets privacy and security rules for protected health information. Examples: Iron Mountain lists HIPAA compliance for AZP-1. A medical group checks that its hosting facility supports HIPAA requirements.

FedRAMP (Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program)

the US government program that authorizes cloud and hosting services for federal agency use. Examples: Iron Mountain lists FedRAMP authorization for AZP-1. A government contractor looks for FedRAMP authorized facilities.

Runbook

written steps for a task or recovery so anyone qualified can follow them. Examples: A runbook for restoring the file server. A cutover runbook lists every step and owner for move night.

RPO / RTO (recovery point objective / recovery time objective)

how much data you can afford to lose and how long you can afford to be down. Examples: An RPO of one hour means backups at least hourly. An RTO of four hours means systems back within four hours.

As-built

documentation of how a system was actually installed: diagrams, port maps, IP addresses, rack layouts and settings. Examples: The as-built network diagram shows every switch and VLAN. "Send the as-builts with the closeout package."