How Fashion GPS safeguards Fashion Week samples with a colocation service

Businesses have an ever-growing amount of data to manage and for certain industries there is sensitive data which they need to protect. Managing an on-site data facility can be a headache as issues often arise which require additional space, security, power and resiliency; however, many businesses do not have adequate facilities to meet these needs in-house or to implement the high levels of security both physically and virtually to provide adequate safeguards for their company data.

Fashion GPS, a leading digital solutions provider for sample inventory tracking and event management for the fashion industry, is one of those companies. Security is vital in the fashion industry and Fashion GPS works with some of the biggest names in the industry; these high-end designers regularly circulate samples between fashion editors and photo shoots. The security of their exclusive prototypes is critical as many of these products are one-of-a- kind and have extremely high costs to the business when lost. During Fashion show season is when Fashion GPS faces its toughest tests. Clients need 24-7 service but, during fashion show season, there is a significant spike in demand. Fashion shows are critical to designer success and clients cannot afford even the slightest mishap.

To enable them to manage fashion samples Fashion GPS harnesses the colocation services of NaviSite. Colocation facilities provide space, power, cooling, and physical security for the server, storage, and networking equipment of other businesses-and connect them to a variety of telecommunications and network service providers-with a minimum of cost and complexity. Colocation services can help a business increase their profitability whilst ensuring that company data resides in a centre with all the necessary measures in place to guarantee security and disaster recovery. In the case of Fashion GPS it has enabled them to keep track of its inventory in real-time which enabled a higher security for its clients' one-of-a-kind garments.

A tailored co-location service can benefit businesses that want complete control over all aspects of their hardware and servers, but that also require the quality, reliability and security of scalable, enterprise-class data centre services. With off-site storage, the provider maintains the facility and employs the strictest security policies to relieve IT pros of the anxieties which come with on-site storage.

The benefits of co-location do not stop there. The value of this data storage solution is clearly demonstrated when it underpins global businesses whose clients require a real time, highly secure service around the clock, 365 days a year, and who often experience spikes in demand during high profile events throughout the year.

So what should you think about when considering a co-location solution? A trusted co-location provider should take a holistic approach to understanding the unique and rigorous requirements of your business, whilst also operating in a consultative role to make sure these needs are met. The ideal co-location provider should deploy sophisticated environmental controls to optimise performance and business continuity, design custom builds to meet individual customer requirements and utilise state-of-the art uninterruptible power supply (UPS) services and proprietary monitoring software.

They should be able to provide the highest security to the customer and their clients via security certified data centres. Particularly important to companies such as Fashion GPS is the adherence to the SSAE16 standard, which gives added assurance that the highest level systems, policies and procedures are being used by all staff working in the data centre.

Fashion GPS needed to move valuable client data to a secure co-location service quickly and reliably. They also required high uptime and performance response times, especially during high profile and busy events such as Fashion Week. Since the move to co-location, one of Fashion GPS' largest clients, a high profile e-retailer, has seen up to 50 per cent improvement in processing speeds, and data upload speeds have also increased by over 80 per cent, which clearly demonstrates the business benefits of off-site storage. Co-location can help companies deliver a robust and reliable service, even under pressure.

A co-location solution can be the ideal solution for retail businesses wishing to secure valuable data. It has been proven to underpin a consistent, reliable and robust service for customers. A healthy partnership with a co-location provider can allow your business to lean on the expertise of "solution architects" to establish a fully redundant disaster recovery system, as well as the equipment and storage needs to ensure the company maintains its competitive edge and continues to deliver a world class service.