The City of Brotherly Love is home to 11 providers and 17 data center locations. And while the selection is plentiful, it doesn't make the decision any easier.

With so many options, how can you know you've found the best Philadelphia data center?

The best data centers for your company will be in an easily accessible location, prove reliable, offer solid connectivity, and be able to scale as your business grows.

Still, there are a few data centers that meet all these criteria. So we've compiled a list that'll help you identify which will meet your company's specific needs.

Finding a Pennsylvania data center provider that can deliver service throughout the Mid-Atlantic region can be challenging, mostly because data center operators have been focused more on Northern Virginia or the New York City metro area.

Because of Hurricane Sandy and because of the concentration of facilities in Northern Virginia, some in business have been searching for a provider elsewhere. The right provider can set your company up for success. It'll offer seamless support, allowing you to focus on your business, rather than where your servers are maintained.

The wrong provider, though, could lead to invoices that put you over budget, extended downtimes, and tech teams that are overworked.

But along with everything you need from a data center provider, you'll also want to ensure they can service your surrounding area. Because if they can't, you're limited on growth and the seamless support data centers can provide.

These four data centers in Pennsylvania can provide that support, making your search significantly less challenging.

Did you know that Northern Virginia has the nation's largest data center market?

With over 100 data centers and more than ten million square feet of available data center space, the area is well-developed with companies that can meet your needs. The issue, however, is that with the sheer volume of options, determining the best solution can be overwhelming.

We'll help you understand the Northern Virginia data center landscape so that you can find the right fit for your business.

What if I told you that most of the data you're churning out on a daily basis goes through a rural county that is most well known for pastures, farms and scenic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains?

Depending on your requirements, a high quality data center can be an essential component to your organization's IT operations.  And, if your business is located in the state of Virginia, you're in luck.

Northern Virginia continues to boast the largest data center market in the world. There are millions of square feet of data center space available in Northern Virginia. SoAnd while company requirements can differ dramatically, having so many options means you should be able to find exactly what you need. But that doesn't mean it's going to be easy to choose a data center.

So, here... let me help you with your search. This list of the five best data center colocations in Virginia will make your search significantly faster by providing you with the most trusted options in the area.

Information is the worlds most important commodity. And typically, information is stored as data somewhere on the Internet.

With so much riding on the proper storage, security, and handling of data, it's essential that your business finds the right place to house it all. Proper data management is what makes data centers a valuable asset to any company, whether large or small. But with so many options, how can you decide what matters when making your decision?

This article will explore the top things you need to consider when choosing a data center so you can be sure your choice is the right one.

For many businesses today, colocation just makes sense. It provides the infrastructure and security of a dedicated data center without the costs of maintaining such a facility on your own. By housing their servers in a colocation facility, companies enjoy the benefits of having their servers in the cloud while still maintaining physical control of their systems.

When a manufacturer decides to build a new plant, most build near existing roads and utilities. Taking advantage of existing infrastructure mitigates the costs to the company. Building their own roads and power plant significantly increases the costs of both construction and ongoing operation and maintenance.

Today, information is the main commodity and that information resides on servers. Servers require infrastructure as well; such as power, cooling, connectivity, and security, all built with redundancies and backups. Colocation gives you the ability to to mitigate costs by housing your servers in a facility that provides the infrastructure and physical security to keep your deployment safe and operational.

Colocation gives you control over your systems. You and your tech team can physically access servers at a colocation center as needed.

Early in the wave of the development of the Internet, corporate data servers were typically located on-premises and every business that needed a server was forced to invest significant capital. Servers required their own infrastructure, hardware, and maintenance solutions, for physical servers sitting in a dedicated room/area of the office.

It was resource intensive and expensive, but thanks to innovations in cloud technology and the increasing availability of lightening-fast fiber connectivity, other options have opened up in recent years. While your mileage may vary with what is the right choice, we can provide you with information in the data center vs. server room debate.

Can you imagine the mess you would face if you went 23 years without cleaning out your closets? Unfortunately, that is a frightening reality for the telecom risers and phone closets in many older commercial buildings.

I was touring one building, and in one of their telco closets, there was a whole rack of equipment powered on for a telecom company that had been out of business for five years! Telecom risers play the vital role of housing data and phone communication in commercial buildings from the basement minimum point of entry (MPoE) through vertical risers to commercial tenant offices. Riser infrastructure needs to be managed by professionals to avoid the headaches caused by abandoned cabling infrastructure like fire hazards or damage.

The current state of commercial cable risers can be traced back to 1996 when the Telecommunications Act deregulated the industry. Deregulation meant better price and selection for businesses, but it also led to an influx of telco vendors who were installing cabling in commercial risers. During the same 23-year period, internet technology adoption worldwide grew over 5,944%, and business demand for data bandwidth began to soar. These factors converged into a recipe for very cluttered cabling closets.