If you want to get the best value out of any data center you use, it helps to understand how data center pricing works. With that in mind, here is a straightforward guide to how data center pricing works in Orange County.
The pricing models for Orange County data centers work in much the same way as the pricing models for data centers in general. The three baseline pricing models are on-demand pricing, subscription pricing and custom pricing.
This pricing gives the customer the highest level of flexibility but also creates the most challenges for the provider. Essentially, on-demand pricing means that the customer does not need to plan ahead but it also means the provider will struggle to plan ahead.
For this reason, on-demand pricing is typically charged at a noticeably higher rate than subscription and custom pricing. This enables businesses to benefit from the flexibility of on-demand pricing when they really need it. At the same time, however, it encourages them to move to subscription pricing when they can reasonably do so.
Subscription pricing is at the core of most service models both in IT and in other areas. With subscriptions, the vendor provides a bundle of services for a guaranteed price. Most vendors offer a range of subscriptions to cater to different customer groups and, hence, different budgets.
Depending on the vendor, there may also be some flexibility in the length of a subscription commitment. If this is the case, longer-length subscriptions will usually offer more attractive pricing than shorter-length subscriptions.
Custom pricing is essentially subscription pricing but tailored to a particular customer. Generally, custom pricing is only available to customers who commit to a certain level of business with the vendor. Essentially, it needs to be worth the vendor’s while to go to the effort of creating a custom price plan.
There are numerous factors that can influence data center pricing. Most of them, however, can be broken down into five main categories.
Data center facilities are real estate. As such, they follow the usual dynamics of real estate markets. Similarly, the cost of using a data center will depend partly on the amount of space a business needs within that data center.
Data centers are obvious targets for data thieves, particularly cyberattackers. As such, they all need some level of security. The more security is implemented, the higher the cost to the vendor. This is reflected in the cost to the customer.
Likewise, gaining and maintaining compliance certifications also has a cost. The more compliance certifications a vendor holds, the greater the cost. Again, this cost is passed on to the customer.
In data centers, power serves two main purposes. The first is to power the IT equipment. The second is to power the facility itself, especially the cooling infrastructure. Data centers may be able to charge businesses directly for the power they use but they will have to integrate an extra cost to reflect the power used by the facility as a whole.
Network fees generally have two main components. These are Internet Access (IP) and cross-connect charges. These days, IP charges are typically fixed based on a maximum level of consumption. Cross-connect charges reflect the type of cross-connect (e.g. copper vs fiber).
The more a vendor is prepared to guarantee in terms of uptime and performance, the more effort they’re going to need to put into making sure they can meet that guarantee. This is reflected in the price they charge. Likewise, offering high-quality support from humans requires paying skilled humans. There is a cost for this.
As previously mentioned, flexibility tends to carry a price premium and so do value-add services (like remote-hands support). If these are incorporated into a contract, then the price of the contract. This may, however, still be more economical than accessing them via on-demand pricing.
There are three key factors you should always check when choosing the right pricing plan for your business.
Does the plan offer what you want? If it doesn’t offer everything you want, can you access the additional features you want at a reasonable price?
Do you have unlimited access to all the features in your plan or is your usage capped? If it is capped, then is the cap high enough for your core needs? Is there an on-demand option so you can increase your usage if needed?
What is your commitment to the vendor and vice versa? Does the contract offer you the right balance between predictability and flexibility? Remember that vendors are generally more willing to allow customers to scale up contracts during their agreed terms than to scale them down.
Discover the environmental impact of data centers in Orange County. Explore the environmental impact of data centers in general. Find out how green practices in Orange County data centers help to mitigate that impact so that data centers can operate sustainably. Learn about DataBank’s sustainable approach to data centers.
Irvine may be a small city but its robust economy and popularity with students mean that it has a strong real-estate market. Using colocation in Irvine allows businesses to get access to this location without the hefty costs of buying real estate.
DataBank’s SNA2 downtown Irvine facility is one of the largest data centers in Orange Country. It has two fiber entrances into the facility, access to multiple carriers, and blended internet access. It features dual-factor authentication, 7x24x365 staffing, mantrap, and CCTV.
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