[SDBUG] rack space, anyone?

[Michael J McCafferty]

Matt,
         I actually helped build some of the Level 3 infrastructure 
back when they were a very large checkbook and freshly converted from 
a Coal Mine and holdings company.  I am quite proud of the work we 
did. Level 3 will have a place in my heart... I learned a ton working 
on that project, and had a good time with some of the biggest, 
baddest, hardware there was at the time. But, let's talk about data 
centers from a different angle... being a customer of one.
         Level 3 has no remote hands that I know of. I was not aware 
that they do fractions of cabinets, although there are people who can 
sell you a fraction of a cabinet or rack there, such as NextLevel 
Internet. I can tell you that several months ago, I helped a friend 
who was a customer of NextLevel Internet in Level 3's Aero Drive Data 
Center, move from them to AIS in the san Diego Tech Center. The 
primary reasons were the cost of bandwidth, the lack of metering and 
control of the power, and no inter-customer security (everyone was in 
2-post racks, on top of each other). I don't have anything negative 
to say about NextLevel as people or as a company, but it was not the 
solution for my friend at the time.
         AIS is all about the small to medium colo customer. they 
have many 1/4, 1/3, 1/2 and full cabinets. The fractional cabinets 
have their own, private locking doors and are physically separate 
from each other. A good number of their customers are fractional 
cabinets with 1Mbps. That is how I started. They were very helpful 
and flexible with me as I grew my business to 6 cabinets (soon 7 
cabinets) and multiple redundant 100Mbps connections. Their remote 
hands service (no cost), is a real benefit. Reboot a wedged box, or 
type something on the console, see what color and LED is, pop a CD in 
to the drive, connect your KVM over IP.... sure is appreciated when 
you have a customer tapping their toe, or when you goofed at 3am and 
don't feel like driving over there.
         The AIS network is excellent, performance-wise. The AIS data 
center is not in a power crunch or heat crunch like others in town. 
If you need lots of power, then knock yourself out (of course you 
have to pay for it... and power is costly), you can have as much as 
you can afford.
         My business, M5 Hosting (www.m5hosting.com), does rent space 
to colocation customers, from our space within AIS. We do mostly 
Dedicated Servers, but we do have a good number of customer owned 
gear colo'd with us. We offer colo pries based on the costs.... power 
(by the Amp) , space (by the U) and bandwidth (in GB/mo transfer). It 
would include KVM over IP, remote hands, etc. But, you can't just 
walk in there any time of the day or night. We protect you and our 
other customers from our other customers' hands. If you buy colo from 
the data center directly, you can walk in there any time you want, 
and you will have the remote hands, etc (no KVM over IP unless you 
buy one), and you buy bandwidth at 95th percentile as you would from 
any other local data center.... except that the AIS bandwidth is 
outstanding in terms of performance.
         Either way, I encourage you to check the place out. If you 
have questions, I can help you get the straight scoop... I have been 
a customer there for 4yrs. I donate hosting for the SDBUG web site 
and mailing list, which are hosted on our shared hosting server in 
the AIS data center.
         I am copying my account rep at AIS. You can contact him 
directly, and/or you can contact me.... whatever you think will best 
suit your needs. I am always happy to talk colo or data centers.

Cheers,
Mike


At 12:14 PM 3/13/2007, you wrote:
>I am not dead set on L3, but I've had machines there for some 6-7 years and
>I do like the facility & location;
>
>Thanks,
>Matt
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: sdbug-bounces at sdbug.org [mailto:sdbug-bounces at sdbug.org] On Behalf Of
>Michael J McCafferty
>Sent: Tuesday, March 13, 2007 9:44 AM
>To: San Diego's BSD Users Group
>Subject: Re: [SDBUG] rack space, anyone?
>
>
>Has to be at Level 3 on Aero ? No other data center ?
>
>At 11:38 AM 3/13/2007, you wrote:
> >Hello list,
> >
> >I am looking to rent (long term) a 1/4 of a cabinet @L3 data center in SD,
> >with a /26 IP block.  There will be 2 people that will need physical access
> >to the rack.
> >Please email me if you can help.
> >
> >
> >Thanks,
> >Matt
> >
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