Data Storage - A Good Opportunity

[jcarlisle]

My good friend in IT constantly reminds me how important it is to do regular backups of my computer files, both the professional and personal ones.

He's even more adamant about businesses. Every business should be backing up files off-site in case of a fire or flood or some other calamity that might destroy the systems in a physical office.

This is where your facility can come in: Provide a place for businesses to store their off-site backups of data. Sure, there might be a few challenges. You'd have to provide a "high-tech" area that is climate-controlled (so the servers don't fry) with constantly flowing electricity, but I think you'll find many businesses willing to pay pretty well for the space.

Cary F. McGovern delves into the topic in this well-written article for Inside Self-Storage.

Do you offer this kind of service? Have you considered it?

[astro]

Re: Data Storage - A Good Opportunity

This is an interesting idea, but I am not sure that small facilities can afford this kind of investment.

However, it bring to mind a question. The software company we use has our data base (I guess that is the correct term) in their system. What happens if they have a server problem, or a fire, or hurricane, etc? Do they have off-site record storage somewhere else, too?

[Autodoc]

Re: Data Storage - A Good Opportunity

This is actually something that can be started on a small scale and expanded as it grows.

Your largest expense outside of the initial hardware setup is the monthly cost of a T1 connection (think of it as multiple high speed internet connections)

I personally use the free 2GB Mozy backup to backup our encrypted customer files. I do this normally once a week - if we lost the computer we could re-create the weeks worth of data.

[John B.]

Re: Data Storage - A Good Opportunity

A city of any size will undoubtedly have a "data center" which may or may not provide "colocation" or "hosting" services. Heck, if your small to medium town has an ISP, they probably offer server colocation as well. The advantage that they already have over a self storage facility is that they have the air conditioning (server rooms like to be down below 70 degrees), redundant power, backup power, redundant and large amounts of bandwidth, computer-friendly fire suppression, and on-site IT techs.

I used to be in the ISP/web hosting business, and while some of us who own or manage storage facilities fancy ourselves as decent IT guys, it's not a core role for us. I have some friends who offer web design and development as part of their marketing company, and about two years ago they got out of maintaining web servers at their office and now have a hosting company provide the hardware (they still do the customer content management). It's a volume business, and the guys with a room, or rooms, full of servers can do it a lot cheaper than anyone with 1-5 servers in a closet.

Heck, with high-speed internet, your data backup doesn't even need to be in the same city. Google "web hosting" or "server colocation" and see how many potential, established competitors pop up.