
On Sun, 05 December 1999, Alex Rubenstein wrote:
> I'd disagree whole-heartedly (partly because I am not a huge, national
> tier-1).
> 
> Wouldn't you rather connect your equipment to a smaller company, that is
> potentially more flexible, has more clueful people, has better pricing,
> and is multihomed to maybe 3 or 6 or 9 backbones?

The top three Internet data centers I've seen are all inhouse designed and
operated.  Unfortunately, the worst three Internet data centers I've seen
also were home-grown.  Carrier operated co-location facilities have advantages
and some disadvantages.  The marketplace is driving them all to meet about
the same level of quality, so there is less of a surprise factor associated
with them.  The Insurance Services Organization has already prepared underwriting reports on them, so its easy to get insurance.  Other tenents
have already done their own vetting of the operation.  

But, like every industry, there will always be some room for the specialty
shops which offer a level of personal service large players can't justify.

I find it interesting after the 1980's and the era of "personal computers"
once again the computing industry is back to the timesharing model of large
data centers.  ASPs?




