How Important is Latency in Data Center Site Location?

Data centers act as a hub for placing networked computers, servers, IT equipment, storage subsystems, and numerous other physical racks together. These can be further used to process, organize, and disseminate a large amount of business data.

The data centers can either be located onsite or offsite. But, owing to a lack of space and resources, most companies prefer to hire an offsite location. This is so prevalent today that there are firms which have quite literally outsourced their data centers to foreign shores.

A lot of companies in Canada have also followed suit. However, what they don’t understand is that the farther a data center is from the parent organization and its intended target audience, the greater are its chances of incurring the wrath of high latency.

This is precisely why a number of businesses have now begun to express interest in their data center relocation to Mississauga, Brampton, and Ontario. Nevertheless, before you undertake any such process, it is important to understand what latency really is and how it is impacted by geographical locations.

What is Latency?

Latency is essentially the amount of time which a server takes to process a certain request. This can be better explained with the help of an example. When users visit your website, they expect their interaction to be productive, responsive, and seamless. If your site has high latency, its pages (including content, videos, text, images etc.) would take a long time to load. As a result, the user might choose to leave your site. Contrarily, if your website has a low latency, the page would load quickly, thus enabling an efficient user experience.

How Location Affects Latency?

The location of a data center has a significant impact on latency. When someone clicks on your website, the request to view it is sent to the place where your server is physically located. This request to retrieve data travels in the form of small packets through a variety of networks it comes across on the way. These networks are generally referred to as ‘gateway nodes’ or ‘hops’. Once the request is received, the server processes it and sends it back through the same gateway nodes to the user’s computer.

In simple words, location affects latency in the following way:

– The more networks data packets have to pass through, the more time they would take to reach their final destination. For locations situated afar, a higher number of hops with an inherent processing delay need to be crossed.

– The packets travel at the speed of light. If they are being transmitted via fiber optic cables, their speed tends to be around 200,000 km/s. Now, if your user is located in Los Angeles while your server is positioned in Singapore, the delay caused, even when the light is traveling at its natural speed, would be approximately 141 milliseconds per packet!

– Apart from the above, latency is also caused by network inefficiency and poor routing device quality. The farther a data center site’s location is, the greater is the possibility of both these factors causing hindrances.

A user first begins to notice the delay caused by latency when it exceeds 400 milliseconds. In fact, after an average wait time of three seconds, the user exits the web page. This is exactly what the server relocation services help you avoid.

Road-Map Ahead

If you are bogged down by high latency issues and want to begin an IT office relocation, look no further than the solutions offered by Network Fix. They are one of the leading server relocation specialists in Canada who work towards ensuring that geography does not influence your website’s proficiency.

Being situated in Canada, it is wise to opt for a data center relocation to Mississauga. Situated in the eastern coast of the country, it is the perfect site for housing servers because it is easily accessible and is well-connected to the rest of the state via optic cables.

Data centers are the foundation upon which the success or failure of an organization rests. This is why choosing a proximal location to ascertain low latency is a task which carries great importance.