The need for regional Data Centers.
December 23, 2014 | Posted in News
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Continued migration of critical systems to the Cloud, the growth of mobile apps, and the dramatic surge in realtime IP-based voice and video communication are forcing companies to rethink their strategies on where to globally place core technology and systems. While traditional switched networks were structured to enable hub and spoke or fixed mesh networks, these new drivers are pushing businesses to rethink their networking and datacenter architectures.
Understanding the drivers and their impact on regional data centers.
Cloud architectures free up both manpower and equipment expenses by consolidating management and eliminating costly premise hardware. Voice and video is now being integrated into every major app and continues to be migrated to IP networks. Hence, traditional networks continue to be strained.
Couple this with the increase in mobile-users and the continued growth in mobile apps that typically run in the Cloud, then its clear that traditional networking and headquarters’ based datacenters no longer get the job done. 
Leveraging regional datacenters that are located close to operating markets and users has become a must in order to ensure minimal network latency, keep traffice regionalized and leveraging flexible on-demand service in support of the growing demand for Cloud services.
Why Curaçao as a regional network and technology hub?
CTEX’s Uptime Institute certified Tier-IV datacenters were built in Curaçao not by happenstance. Five redundant submarine cables link the island to the rest of the world, and more are currently being connected to the island. As part of the Dutch Kingdom, Curaçao is very friendly to international business.
European-based privacy laws are favorable, taxes are low, and there are no import duties on technology equipment. A multicultural populace, that speaks English, Spanish, Dutch, and Portuguese, also makes the island an ideal hub for transnational commerce.
Leveraging CTEX as a unique regional hub for Latin America and the Caribbean.
When your business absolutely, positively cannot go down, you need a Tier IV datacenter. If you want the peace of mind that your business will not be impacted during floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, and other threats, then there is no better place to house your critical computing infrastructure and applications than at our Uptime certified Tier IV datacenter – the highest rating for a datacenter and the only one of its kind in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Curaçao’s unique geographical positioning makes it an ideal hub for companies conducting business in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Making the CTEX datacenter your regional hub for Latin America & the Caribbean
If Latin America and the Caribbean is your target market, and you have a concentration of business operations, employees and customers in the region, then CTEX is the place to be.
Your objective is to esure the least amount of network latency and optimal bandwidth available between endpoint devices, applications and services. CTEX is the region’s largest carrier-neutral access point providing roundtrip latency throughout the region of less than 40 milliseconds, making it the ideal hub to place critical systems.
With five redundant submarine cables linking the island to the rest of the world, and additional ones being deployed, Curacao has become the best spot in the region leverage Ethernet, MPLS, Sip trunking/PSTN or other services. These networking capabilities provide provide optimal networking connectivity out of the region’s only Tier-IV design and constructured certified facility.
Let’s Talk
Aside from leveraing the region’s most advanced datacenter as your technology and communications hub, Curaçao also brings about many business benefits worth exploring. Together with our partners, we can help protect your business and IT assets while at the same time exploring the various business opportunities of leveraging Curaçao as a regional operating hub. Let’s talk.
Preparing for the Unforeseen
December 18, 2014 | Posted in News
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Running your business and servicing the needs of your customers in the event of a disaster or emergency requires much more than having an alternate office or data files backed up to an off-island location. It requires access to technology, work space and connectivity with the shortest possible recovery time objective (RTO) and recovery point objective (RPO) to ensure minimal business disruption.
The Statistics
The statistics are staggering – 80% of businesses affected by a major incident either never re-open or close within 18 months, 70% of companies go out of business after a major data loss and 80% of businesses suffering a computer disaster go out of business.
The Typical Strategy
To provide protection, most companies either use backup tapes, or online backup services to store their data files remotely. Others use a multi-branch strategy to create a meshed architecture where every branch could serve as a disaster recovery site in the event of a disaster.
However, critical challenges remain; how do you restore critical applications and technology that enable your business to operate? Having backup data is not enough, and hoping that a branch can take up the full workload of another branch also typically does not work in a live disaster. Too, where will workers go and work during or after a disaster? How will customers reach you? And if an alternate location has been established, how will it be connected, powered up and how will you get the critical computing infrastructure in place, fast enough, to restart operations in a few hours. And, in the case of fire, or natural disaster such as a hurricane or Tsunami, are these alternate sites designed to protect against these events?
What CTEX means to your business
in the event of a disaster
Financial institutions and others who subscribe to CTEX’s disaster recovery services have a huge advantage. First, they have pre-arranged work space that can be activated within one hour of notification. Second, their data and critical infrastructure reside on secured computer servers that are always on and ready to go. Either they leverage CTEX’s advanced high-performance computer servers or they host alternate equipment at our datacenter that is prime or in standby mode.
State of the Art facility
CTEX was built on the island of Curaçao, not by happenstance but through careful analysis of several critical factors including the island’s geographic location outside the traditional hurricane belt and major seismic zones.
Nevertheless, CTEX’s TIER-IV Uptime Institute certified data center is a windowless bunker, engineered and built to withstand category V hurricanes and seismic level III earthquakes. The facility is located 60 meters above sea-level. This makes the CTEX facility one of the most unique in the region.
With your primary technology infrastructure mirrored at our highly secured facility, your systems can be online instantly in the event of a disaster and your critical business staff will have a place to work while you recover.
Our second floor houses over 150 office desks, private suites, emergency meeting rooms and an international fiber landing station. Tenants have access to the region’s most advanced global CISCO Tele-presence system providing high definition videoconferencing to most major cities around the world. Too, the CTEX datacenter has been designed and engineered to work independently of the main power grid for 14 days on its own power generation plants without refueling.
Contact Us
We will help you face the unexpected challenges of doing business in the 21st century. Please contact us so we can configure a recovery solution with you that provides the greatest possible peace of mind.
Build or Lease? The Economics of Datacenter Facilities
December 2, 2014 | Posted in News
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Recent research shows that for most companies leasing a datacenter facility is more economical thanbuilding and operating one.
Willemstad, Curaçao – December 2, 2014 – In today’s fast evolving business climate, companies rely heavily on the availability, quality and consistency of their IT infrastructures in order to guarantee the continued success of the business. The traditional approach was to host all IT infrastructure in-house. However, as business expands and demands for additional IT services increases, companies are increasingly faced with the challenge of meeting increased power and cooling demands. As a result, sooner or later they are faced with the critical decision to either lease or (continue to) build-out their own datacenter facility. Each approach has its own unique benefits and challenges. Building a datacenter provides perceived control over the facility and its operations. On the other hand, leasing a datacenter presents an attractive operational expenditure model with better access to space and power, improved security and the ability to expand faster at a lower cost. So what is the right decision for your business? We take a look at some recent research to answer this question.
Datacenter facilities are your most expensive investments. There’s a good chance that your datacenter facility is reaching its limits on space, power and/or cooling capacity. A recent research by Forrester finds that there are three primary drivers behind this: data growth, virtualization and consolidation. Forrester estimates that storage consumes anywhere between 5% and 15% of the total power consumed by the datacenter. With data growth between 25% and 50% YOY, the explosion of data growth is having a real impact on datacenter capacity. In addition, as companies drive their virtualization deployments to greater densities of virtual machines per physical machine, companies are driven to look for new facilities that can support more extreme densities. Lastly, organizations are consolidating their multitudes of small data repositories and smaller datacenters into centralized regional sites. However, the decision to build a new datacenter can’t be underestimated, as it will likely be one of your largest infrastructure investments. Many companies don’t fully understand the costs associated with building and operating a datacenter before they commit to this option. Similarly, many companies don’t fully assess the risks that they are potentially shouldering. Before making this big decision, it’s imperative that organizations understand all the options, their pros and cons as well as their risks and costs. Three factors determine the economics of datacenter facilities It’s imperative that organizations objectively evaluate the financial impact on their business when considering leasing versus building a datacenter. Three critical factors that ultimately should help to determine your final decision are:
Let’s take a look on how the key benefits of leasing versus building a datacenter compare. |
As can be seen from above, there are significant benefits for leasing a datacenter versus building one. Now let’s take a look at the cost comparisons between the two options:
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 Again, some clear benefits and clarity in terms of costs for considering leasing over building.
Beyond Dollars and Cents: consider Core Competencies, Risk and Forecast
The financial benefits of building or leasing a datacenter are critical decision points but organizations should think beyond just dollars and cents. Beyond calculating the total economic impact of a leased versus owned datacenter, recent study recommends organizations to ask themselves the following questions:
Conclusion |