Any company in the midst of a data center site selection process commonly finds itself with a number of factors to consider. The site selection process is key for most companies, not only because the selected site/provider will be hosting mission-critical business services, but also because the chosen site will likely house those critical systems and platforms for the foreseeable future. Since site selection activities are often performed only once or twice, it's important that all relevant factors be evaluated.

Geographical factors are often overlooked in site selection activities, or at best are incompletely examined. And most data center providers, quite frankly, don't do much to help in that process. Many data centers produce information about hardware reliability or facility security, but often geography as a measure of a facility's ability to competently serve its clients is neglected.