Bit Refinery big data hosting: Colocate for a competitive edge

Industry:

Big Data Hosting

Challenge:

Colocate for a competitive edge

Solution:

Iron Mountain Data Centers

Value:

• Unexpected outages cost businesses an average of  $8,851 per minute in 2016
• Iron Mountain's security, reliability, and massive capacity are able to accommodate Bit Refinery's current and future colocation requirements
• Bit Refinery is now able to offer Hadoop hosting and managed services at rates 60-70% cheaper than competitors
• In the three years since partnering with Iron Mountain, Bit Refinery has experienced over 100% year-over-year growth

Change creates a competitive edge

Hadoop is one of the most exciting and useful new technologies to have come out of the Open Compute Project, allowing businesses big and small to analyze huge amounts of data quickly. Although the software itself is free, the infrastructure to run Hadoop can be very expensive, requiring many servers - or "nodes" - to host and analyze the information. The more nodes running Hadoop, the faster it processes and the more protected your data is.

Bit Refinery - a provider of VMware and Hadoop Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) nationwide - wanted to expand its Hadoop IaaS offering in the Rocky Mountain region. But to do so, it needed to find a data center that was secure, quickly scalable, and most importantly, capable of keeping its dedicated servers up and running continuously.

Unexpected outages cost businesses a reported average of $8,851 per minute in 2016, so without the support of a highly reliable data center, Bit Refinery's customers would go elsewhere.

Unexpected outages cost businesses a reported average of $8,851 per minute in 2016.

Bit Refinery recognized a noticeable dearth of companies offering affordable commodity servers to those who wished to effectively use Hadoop for their business. In 2014, Bit Refinery began to offer Hadoop hosting and managed services at rates 60-70% cheaper than competitors. How? The company took a new approach. Instead of utilizing pricey, enterprise-class server clusters, Bit Refinery offers commodity servers housed in enterprise-class data centers across the country. Looking to establish its Hadoop footprint in the Rocky Mountain region with the help of a high-quality data center it could trust, Bit Refinery partnered with Iron Mountain in Denver, Colorado.

A rock-solid foundation

Bit Refinery found that the Iron Mountain data center in Denver, Colorado met all of their requirements. Hearing reports of Iron Mountain's reputation as the leading data center in the region, Bit Refinery took a tour and was impressed by the immaculately maintained facility, Tier III design, and professional staff. "Our company set out to find a rock-solid foundation on which to grow our business and we found that in Iron Mountain." said Brandon Hieb, Managing Partner at Bit Refinery. Iron Mountain's flawless uptime record demonstrated its commitment to maximum reliability; its multilayered security measures were comprehensive and effective; and its massive capacity would be able to accommodate Bit Refinery's current and future colocation requirements with agility. Hieb added, "Their network, power, and operations are unmatched. Their facility is so clean and well maintained that you could eat off their floors." Iron Mountain's unique data center technology offers Bit Refinery both traditional raised floor and data module colocation capabilities. Bit Refinery was able to start out with a single rack on the raised floor, eventually expanding to occupy an entire private cage with plans in the future to utilize data modules.

Made to scale with you

The data modules' standardized architecture allows them to be deployed quickly in 200kW increments, helping Bit Refinery meet the growing demand for Hadoop services as its popularity spreads. Engineered to support high density computing, an individual rack within a module can support up to 32KW, giving Bit Refinery a 3.2X increase in computing density over traditional raised floor data center space.

Bit Refinery's customers benefit from the extra layer of security with Iron Mountain's numerous precautions in place throughout the facility. They employ multilayered logical and physical security measures such as multiple security checkpoints, card readers, biometric scanners, dual mantraps, and CCTV, with three separate staffs monitoring every aspect of Iron Mountain around the clock, 365 days a year.

Iron Mountain's immaculate uptime record is upheld by a well-trained operations team that adheres to a library of processes and procedures; a predictive and preventative lifecycle and maintenance strategy; comprehensive risk mitigation measures; and a forward-thinking approach that embraces new, superior technology and methods to improve the customer experience. Hieb summed it up best: "They have provided us with the stability, security, and flexibility we need to expand and shape our business."

100% the right choice

In the three years since partnering with Iron Mountain, Bit Refinery has experienced over 100% year-over-year growth. Iron Mountain has afforded peace of mind to Bit Refinery and its clients. Any customers feeling nervous about outsourcing infrastructure or unfamiliar with Iron Mountain's reputation can tour the facility and meet the team, eliminating their concerns.

Working with Iron Mountain has given Bit Refinery the confidence to move forward and focus on its business without worrying about downtime. Hieb said of the experience, "To top it off, the responsiveness and friendly attitude of their team has made them a pleasure to work with. I would definitely recommend them to anyone looking for a data center service provider."