Priority Colo - COVID-19 response
Posted: Sat Mar 14, 2020 5:54 pm
Hi Folks,
This notice is issued to provide information with regards to Priority Colo's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As I'm sure most customers are aware COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on 11-Mar-2020 by the World Health Organization. Priority Colo and its staff have been taking precautionary measures over the past several weeks in relation to concerns surrounding the virus impact on supply chains, vendor operations, staffing, mobility, and general resource availability.
Both of our facilities are quite low volume in terms of human activity/human occupancy levels, and are well designed to weather events such as this. We have [always] maintained appreciable supply of spare components, servers, networking equipment, along with excess capacity in terms of bandwidth, power, cooling, and fuel.
In an effort to provide clarity to all customers:
- Both of Priority Colo's facilities (Tor1/Tor2) are considered mission critical facilities, and will remain fully operational throughout these incidents.
- Landlords of both physical buildings have indicated buildings will remain fully accessible, there are no plans to limit access to either building for cardholders/customers/etc.
- Janitorial staff in both physical buildings have stepped up their disinfecting and cleaning regimens with regards to common touch surfaces (door handles, elevator buttons, readers/keypads/etc.), following common advice.
- PC staff, along with landlord/operations/related staff have all been practicing social distancing/partial isolation for several days at this point.
- PC staff have made efforts to maintain a suitable stock of necessary personal materials (food/fuel/etc.) to limit exposure to external forces & events, and ensure maximum personnel availability.
- Non-essential maintenance activity will be reduced/rescheduled as appropriate during the outbreak.
A number of customers have expressed capacity concerns with regards to many more users working remotely, etc., so it's worth noting:
- PC has literally tens of gigabits of spare network capacity both in the core, and edge of our network(s). Currently PC's daily bandwidth peak is below 15gbps, of 70gbps of peering/transit capacity (aggregated between the two facilities). Customers do not need to worry about network capacity on our end, and additional ports/services/etc. can be spun up to customers on a moments notice, should there be immediate need.
- PC will continue to build/deploy dedicated servers from our existing stock as required/requested.
- PC will continue to deploy new colocation accounts, expansions, DR, etc. as requested/required.
- PC backup facilities have ample space, for customers re-evaluating backup plans/configs/etc.
- PC will continue to provide remote hands/feet/installation services as requested/required.
- PC can also deploy secure KVM over IP [W/remote virtual media support], and secure Serial over IP connections to customers looking for Out Of Band access to their gear, whether dedicated, colocated (per rack unit), or colocated (unescorted cabinets).
Customers requiring physical access to the facility are asked to exercise common sense, as always. If customer staff are exhibiting any signs/symptoms of infection, or fall into a category recommended for self-isolation by any applicable government agency (IE: having travelled in the past 2 weeks), we ask that customers respect those directives and use remote hands/feet services accordingly. PC staff will work to make things as easy as possible for any impacted customers during these trying times.
Customers who have questions or concerns that are not addressed by this notice, should reach out to me directly at their leisure.
This notice is issued to provide information with regards to Priority Colo's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
As I'm sure most customers are aware COVID-19 was declared a pandemic on 11-Mar-2020 by the World Health Organization. Priority Colo and its staff have been taking precautionary measures over the past several weeks in relation to concerns surrounding the virus impact on supply chains, vendor operations, staffing, mobility, and general resource availability.
Both of our facilities are quite low volume in terms of human activity/human occupancy levels, and are well designed to weather events such as this. We have [always] maintained appreciable supply of spare components, servers, networking equipment, along with excess capacity in terms of bandwidth, power, cooling, and fuel.
In an effort to provide clarity to all customers:
- Both of Priority Colo's facilities (Tor1/Tor2) are considered mission critical facilities, and will remain fully operational throughout these incidents.
- Landlords of both physical buildings have indicated buildings will remain fully accessible, there are no plans to limit access to either building for cardholders/customers/etc.
- Janitorial staff in both physical buildings have stepped up their disinfecting and cleaning regimens with regards to common touch surfaces (door handles, elevator buttons, readers/keypads/etc.), following common advice.
- PC staff, along with landlord/operations/related staff have all been practicing social distancing/partial isolation for several days at this point.
- PC staff have made efforts to maintain a suitable stock of necessary personal materials (food/fuel/etc.) to limit exposure to external forces & events, and ensure maximum personnel availability.
- Non-essential maintenance activity will be reduced/rescheduled as appropriate during the outbreak.
A number of customers have expressed capacity concerns with regards to many more users working remotely, etc., so it's worth noting:
- PC has literally tens of gigabits of spare network capacity both in the core, and edge of our network(s). Currently PC's daily bandwidth peak is below 15gbps, of 70gbps of peering/transit capacity (aggregated between the two facilities). Customers do not need to worry about network capacity on our end, and additional ports/services/etc. can be spun up to customers on a moments notice, should there be immediate need.
- PC will continue to build/deploy dedicated servers from our existing stock as required/requested.
- PC will continue to deploy new colocation accounts, expansions, DR, etc. as requested/required.
- PC backup facilities have ample space, for customers re-evaluating backup plans/configs/etc.
- PC will continue to provide remote hands/feet/installation services as requested/required.
- PC can also deploy secure KVM over IP [W/remote virtual media support], and secure Serial over IP connections to customers looking for Out Of Band access to their gear, whether dedicated, colocated (per rack unit), or colocated (unescorted cabinets).
Customers requiring physical access to the facility are asked to exercise common sense, as always. If customer staff are exhibiting any signs/symptoms of infection, or fall into a category recommended for self-isolation by any applicable government agency (IE: having travelled in the past 2 weeks), we ask that customers respect those directives and use remote hands/feet services accordingly. PC staff will work to make things as easy as possible for any impacted customers during these trying times.
Customers who have questions or concerns that are not addressed by this notice, should reach out to me directly at their leisure.