The Data Centers & Network

Choosing a data center that could meet our needs was a daunting task. Being part of the Green Grid was important to us. After exhaustive research, we choose to host our servers within the two SingleHop DCs in Chicago. With more than 30 Gigabytes per second of bandwidth, our serious approach to redundancy provides every customer with an extremely fast and reliable network.

To guarantee peace-of-mind for our customers, we utilize redundant fiber connections, featuring BGP technology to AboveNet, Cogent, and nLayer. Our network self-heals failures without interruption and the redundancy starts with the entry-points to the data centers, through top of the line Juniper edge routers, Cisco and Juniper switches, and continues right down to the 1 GB uplinks to our cabinets.

Data Center 1

DC1 features redundant N+1 power, HVAC, and top-of-the-line networking facilities.

• SAS 70 Type I certified (audit report available on request)
• Dual-city grid power feeds, plus battery backup with automated transfer switch and on-site diesel generators
• FM 200 server-safe fire suppression system with early pre-fire detection mechanism
• Automatic temperature and climate control system with humidity and temperature sensors
• Biometric and key card security system including man-traps and rack level locking mechanism
• Staffed 24x7 by our engineers and monitored remotely

Data Center 2

Sphere Web Hosting's latest data center location, features ultra-redundant power, HVAC, and networking systems with no single point of failure. Data Center 2 has been engineered from the ground up to be an ultra secure and redundant facility.

• Dual-city grid power feeds, flywheel based UPS system (N+2), and 16 on-site and operational generators
• Dry-pipe water-based fire suppression system with laser-based pre-fire detection mechanism (VESDA)
• Fully automatic and intelligent temperature and climate control system, with humidity and temperature sensors
• 24x7 security staffing with biometric and key card access control, including man-traps and cab lock mechanisms
• On-site data center & network operations suites staffed 24x7 by our engineers and monitored remotely