Bryan | FIBERTOWN BLOG

Location, Location, Location – Why Bryan-College Station, Texas is Ideal for Colocation Services

The real estate adage “location, location, location” describes why FIBERTOWN’s Bryan-College Station data center is an ideal site for colocation services. Below, we outline four reasons why your company should consider our data center perfectly situated in the heart of eastern Texas.

Reason 1: Bryan-College Station is Located between Major Cities

FIBERTOWN’s Bryan-College Station data center is located within driving distance of the four biggest cities in Texas. It is about 90 minutes from Houston, two hours from Austin, and three hours from San Antonio and Dallas.

Because we’re near major cities, we’re also located close to major carrier hubs and Internet Carrier Exchanges. For our colocation clients, this proximity means lower latency (i.e., less lag time) and a constant Internet connection. There’s no need to be physically in one of the major cities if you can be there virtually.

Reason 2: Bryan-College Station Provides Safety and Accessibility During Weather Events

Our data center is located outside of the hurricane danger zone, as well as outside of tornado alley. As for accessibility, there are multiple routes from every major city to Bryan-College Station. Take interstates, state roads or, heck, even country roads.

Our proximity to multiple roadways eliminates the “one road in, one road out” scenario. With some prior planning, road construction, ice, downed trees and power lines, and heavy evacuation traffic won’t keep you from getting to our colocation site at Bryan-College Station.

Reason 3: Bryan-College Station is Home to Universities and Diverse Industries (and Less Slowdowns!)

As the home of Texas A&M, Bryan-College Station is rich with research and technology innovations. In fact, Amazon, in conjunction with Texas A&M, will be testing its drone delivery system here.

We’re also home to large healthcare groups and robust manufacturing industries, plus one campus of Blinn College.

Bryan-College Station has become a hub for diverse internet carriers wanting to meet the technology needs of these various entities. For FIBERTOWN customers, this means less slowdowns.

Reason 4: Bryan-College Station Offers a Small-Town Feel with Big-Town Services

At FIBERTOWN, we want to offer a small-town, personable feel while providing world-class service. A staff member at our Network Operations Center (NOC) is only a phone call away – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.

For example, if you need help connecting your office in one of the big cities to our data center in Bryan-College Station, call us. A member of our NOC staff will answer the phone or respond to your email. And within a short time, usually 15 minutes or less, you’ll have an answer or help with your issue.

You are not another number to us. We pride ourselves on customer service by real people, staffed in our centers.

With this small-town feel, we provide big-city services, though. We offer anything from our blended bandwidth product to a diverse transport option from our provider partnerships. And if your office is in Houston, you can ride our Point to Point between our two sites and co-locate in each of our data centers! (We have a data center in Houston too.)

FIBERTOWN Invites You to Visit Bryan-College Station.

We’d love to give you a tour of our data center at Bryan-College Station. With its proximity to major and minor highways, it’s accessible. It’s built to withstand high winds, yet located outside of tornado alley and away from the coast to avoid hurricanes. The area is rich in technology and research so it attracts quality internet and power providers. That’s a win-win for our customers.

And on a personal note, come see what life is like without concrete and pavement everywhere! We boast a lower cost of living and are an easy day trip to any major city to relive your big-city life.

Use the contact form here to start a conversation about our Bryan-College Station data center. We’d like to hear from you.

FIBERTOWN Turns 25!

We are celebrating 25 years in business! What a feat!

FIBERTOWN got its start in 1997. And to put that in perspective, Napster was not invented yet. Worry over Y2K was, well, no worry at all. The Spice Girls ruled the world. Titanic was sinking all of its competition at the box office. And 56K was top speed for dial-up internet. Times were good.

FIBERTOWN’s Beginnings

We like to think, though, that we made the late 90s just a bit better when our management began our first data center. In fact, we’ve been under the same management since the start, and we’re proud of that. It’s allowed for consistency in customer service and maturity in our decision-making as we’ve changed with the needs of our customers.

Remember, 56K internet was rockin’ when we started so we’ve seen some changes over the years! Navigating those technology advancements, from dial-up to now the cloud, has given us insight that, frankly, our younger competitors just don’t have.

FIBERTOWN Grows

In 2007, our management opened FIBERTOWN’s data center in Bryan-College Station, Texas. They had something special and wanted to fully realize its potential – to offer colocation services and disaster recovery capabilities. And, they made that happen! Today this colocation site is equipped with state-of-the-art network connectivity, security, and business continuity amenities.

The Bryan and College Station area was chosen due to its location. It’s a day trip (from 90 to 170 miles) from four big cities in Texas – Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas. It’s 150 miles off the Gulf Coast to prevent direct damage from a hurricane, and it’s located outside of tornado alley. With multiple major highways leading to the area, Bryan-College Station is accessible, which is a vital characteristic of a data center.

Then, in 2011, we opened FIBERTOWN’s Houston data center. This second location in the “big city” means more companies get to experience our “small town” customer service. With the growth of business and people in our state of Texas, we wanted to assist even more organizations because we offer something special. Like our Bryan-College Station site, Houston is a colocation and disaster recovery center.

Its 2N power configuration (concurrently maintainable) and our 100% uptime SLA for power, cooling, and networking keep our customer’s data safe and business running as usual.

FIBERTOWN Has Been Busy

For the past 25 years, we’ve been busy! We’ve worked with companies in the energy, financial, retail, and logistics industries. We’ve also worked with higher education organizations and school districts, plus government entities ranging from local groups to statewide organizations.

One recent example is the Brazos County Emergency Operations Center (CEOC), a multi-jurisdiction organization comprised of the emergency management personnel from Brazos County, City of Bryan, City of College Station, and Texas A&M. Prior to contracting with FIBERTOWN, the center’s employees were monitoring and communicating the community’s weather and public safety from three different locations. This process grew wearisome and worrisome. So, we provided colocation services at our Bryan-College Station Data Center. It is convenient for the center’s staff and offers room for up to 200 people when an emergency occurs. We’re proud to serve our community in this way!

Healthcare providers like Kelsey-Seybold are turning to FIBERTOWN for data center and colocation services as well. With the unending pressure to cut costs while offering high-quality, effective services, healthcare providers are looking more and more to colocation for their IT infrastructure needs. And we’re glad to help! (We can’t treat a sick patient, but we know redundant systems and connectivity!)

What’s Next for FIBERTOWN

We have big plans. You don’t survive and thrive for 25 years in business, including the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020, without some gumption and forward-thinking! In the coming articles, we’ll reveal what we plan to tackle next.

As always, though, our first concern is customer satisfaction. It’s this focus that’s allowed us to make it to this big milestone. We learn a lot by listening to clients and what they want and need from colocation and disaster recovery data centers like ours. With competitive rates and 100% uptime SLA for power, cooling, and networking (all three components – not just one!), we’re listening and providing.

If you have questions about our services, we’d love to talk with you. Fill out this contact form to start the conversation.

We can’t wait to see what the next 25 years hold!

Data Center 0

Small Town Data Center Means Big Support for Customers

Small business, small towns, small groups – the relationships built in the “small” are the most powerful because they’re the most intimate. In “small” settings, you get seen. You stand out.

One of FIBERTOWN’s data centers is located in Bryan, Texas, a small city with about 90, 000 people. Bryan is about 100-170 miles from Houston, San Antonio, Dallas, and Austin. It’s also located very close to College Station, a slightly larger city, giving the Bryan-College Station area a population around 250,000.

FIBERTOWN deliberately chose the small city of Bryan, Texas as a site for one of its colocation centers. Our team knows to not count out small-town data centers. Here’s why.

Benefits of Colocation Centers

Before we delve deeper into why “small” is a “big” reason to choose FIBERTOWN for data protection, we’re reminding you of the benefits of colocation centers. The prefix “co” means together, jointly, and sharing.

So, a colocation center is a shared location. It houses servers being used by many other businesses. These companies share the space and services provided by the colocation center. In doing this, companies reduce their costs.

Without a colocation site, businesses need to build and maintain their own data centers, as well as staff them. As you can imagine, that’s an expensive prospect and, frankly, not one many companies can afford.

Besides cost, the level of protection provided by a colocation center is another benefit. At FIBERTOWN, our data centers have N + 1 power supply, onsite generators, a backup fuel supply, priority access to emergency fuel, UPS capacity available, smoke monitoring systems, hydrofluorocarbon (HFC) 125 fire-suppression gas, and much more.

The best part of all of these features…our FIBERTOWN team manages them. As our customer, you focus on your business, and we focus on keeping your business’s IT running..

A final, very important note about colocation centers – they allow your data to exist offsite of your business. This is critical. If your building and hardware are destroyed due to fire or a weather event, your business can move forward because your data is stored securely at our colocation center. It’s risk management at its finest.

(You also may want to read about how we protect our clients’ data during tornadoes and hurricanes.)

Bryan, Texas Data Center is Situated Perfectly

Bryan, Texas is the ideal distance from four big cities. Bryan is about 90 miles northwest of Houston, 170 miles northeast of San Antonio, 100 miles east of Austin, and 170 miles south of Dallas. One these metro areas is probably home to your business.

Bryan’s distance from these booming areas is advantageous for a few reasons. One, as we discussed in the previous section, storing your data in an alternative location, away from your physical building(s), is a great idea. It puts literal space between your data and any disasters affecting your business at home.

But, not too much distance. Bryan, Texas is relatively close to these four metro areas. If employees from your company need to visit our Bryan-College Station Data Center, it’s a doable drive.

At FIBERTOWN, we offer disaster recovery services AND business continuity office space. Bryan’s distance from San Antonio, Austin, and Dallas make these offerings viable for many companies based in these metro areas. Don’t let a disruption stop your employees from having a safe place to work.

Also note, our FIBERTOWN Bryan, Texas Data Center has access to two separate, geographically diverse, frequently tested utility substations. Its primary substation also feeds the utility
company headquarters.

Our colocation center is strategically located to provide customers an offsite location for their IT infrastructure, but close enough to make a day trip.

Nimbleness

In the opening paragraphs, we addressed the “bigness” of being small. When you choose data centers in smaller cities like Bryan, Texas, you get the benefits of small town life. Our FIBERTOWN team knows YOU. We learn about your business and your team. Because of this, we serve you better.

Our team is able to be nimble, adapting to your needs quickly. If you want to know a great example, check out this article about how we helped Centennial Arts, a website and development firm, move quickly to our colocation site during Winter Storm Uri in 2021. A small, expert team like ours can adjust fast, and that nimbleness is required in businesses and events that move at the speed of light.

Furthermore, we allow for custom contracts. It’s one more example of being nimble. At FIBERTOWN, we don’t make you fit in a box or “do it how it’s always been done.”

Why FIBERTOWN’s Bryan, Texas Data Center

We at FIBERTOWN recognize the power in small-town business. Big businesses, perhaps like yours, enjoy benefits because our Bryan, Texas Data Center is located in a small city.

You get to situate your companies in the metro areas where the workers and supply chains are. All the while, your data is stored securely offsite by a team of experts and in facilities designed for this purpose. FIBERTOWN’s colocation center in Bryan, Texas is away from the coast, protecting it (and your data) from the brunt of hurricanes. But, we’re in driving distance.

Plus, we relish in “small.” It allows us to be nimble – move fast, provide custom offers – and that’s a benefit to our customers.

If you want to know more about our Bryan, Texas colocation center (or the one in Houston, Texas), contact us.

Data Center Disaster Recovery Latest 0

Do you have dedicated disaster recovery office space?

A critical component of any business continuity plan is a convenient, reliable and secure contingency work site.

In the event of a disaster, relocating people and operations is crucial to getting a business back up and running as soon as possible.

Does that sound like you?

The last thing you want is to be caught in a bad weather disaster and not have a plan in place.

Here are a few top benefits to look for when searching for disaster recovery office space.

A secure site

Are you located in an area prone to hurricanes, tornados or other severe weather?

Look for a hurricane- and tornado-proof facility that is secure and reliable.

How many generators provide emergency power?

Are there strong data connections — which are needed in an emergency situation?

Disaster recovery office space must take into account what their surrounding area will look like when severe weather hits. Will you be able to access the facility if there’s heavy debris, ice, or snowstorms?

Room to grow

How many square feet of space is available to you?

Can you scale the space as your business grows?

Looking to the future is important for physical space. It’s not just about what you need now, but what your growth projections are for the next 5-10 years.

Reliable partner

Can you buy space that is dedicated to you and use it when it’s needed?

Does the partner offer blended internet options for your team?

What does the redundant power and generator maintenance schedule look like?

Can the space support your backup needs and remote workers?

A reliable partner looks out for your best interests. They should be offering you ideas and making the space fit you, not the other way around.

Options for work-from-home or remote workers

Disaster recovery office space isn’t just for corporate offices.

When working from home, if your power or internet goes out, you can’t do any work at all.

A disaster recovery office space allows those who work from home a backup in case they lose services.

This can be used not just for emergencies, but for power failures, construction that knocks out internet lines in the area, or any other event.

FIBERTOWN work area recovery offerings

Different businesses have different Work Area Recovery (WAR) needs.

FIBERTOWN disaster recovery customers have access to comfortable workspaces including desks and tables with voice and data capabilities, conference and meeting rooms, 24×7 security and secure access via card readers or biometrics.

100% up-time for business-critical systems

FIBERTOWN offers fully redundant, secure and reliable data centers to keep your business-critical systems available 100% of the time. As a colocation provider, the range of disaster recovery solutions is nearly unlimited.

You can use FIBERTOWN as your primary & secondary sites, only secondary sites, hot or tape back-up, and for Highly Available (HA) fail-over.

We can help you configure your systems in the way that is most efficient and appropriate for your disaster recovery needs.