The small roster of Web-hosting facilities in Toronto’s downtown core just recently added another name to its list. Primus Telecommunications Canada last month launched its 7,500-square foot data centre designed to serve its managed hosting, shared, collocation and data/Internet customers.
Although recent reports have found that the Web-hosting industry in Canada is moving at a snail’s pace, Primus is confident that the launch of its data centre will serve to quicken the lagging Canadian market.
Leslie Chase, Primus’s senior vice-president, commercial division, said that the main difference between the company’s data centre and those of other providers is that Primus is running a business, not executing a business plan.
“We have a very strong core business,” Chase said, “so extending our business to add enhanced data services was a natural for Primus and something they have done globally anyway.”
Chase said that though Primus understood that the Canadian market would be slower than that of the U.S., it was more prudent about the overall expense of the facility and was more realistic in its forecasts. She said that although fellow hosting firms such as Q9 Networks Inc., Bird on a Wire Networks and PSINet Inc. spent time and money in education of Web hosting, Primus decided to resist the temptation and save its marketing dollars for things that would show a stronger return on investment, Chase added.
Primus’s facility comes equipped with HVAC temperature control, anti-static floors, triple-redundant backbone and fully redundant on-site power supply. The company also said the centre has security features, which include an alarm system, controlled 24/7 access, biometric security systems and complete video camera surveillance. Chase said that although security measures are of great importance to the data centre, there has been a lot of hype surrounding physical measures.
“If someone is going to get at your data centre, they are likely not going to physically attack the centre. They are going to try and hack their way into it. What is really important is your ability to control people in and out froma data perspective. That is why we have spent most of our energy of firewall development,” she said.
