NIH Computer Center Hosting Services—Both On and Off Site

Leave your IT hosting headaches to CIT's computer center and have more time to dedicate to your regular work. All of our hosting services provide a secure environment for your applications—without the worry.

CIT offers flexibility by providing multiple hosting services. Our traditional full-service hosting consists of CIT-owned servers in the CIT data center at NIH. In addition, we offer collocation hosting services for customer-owned servers at two separate places—either in the CIT data center’s Customer Server Area (CSA) or in a new off-site location.

Standard Services for Hosting

All three of our hosting options provide:

- physical security
- redundant, high-bandwidth connectivity
- reliable infrastructure—climate control, UPS (uninterruptible power source)
- operations staff on-site, 24 x 7

Full-Service Hosting

•         What Does Full-Service Hosting Offer?

Customers from NIH and other government agencies have run their computer applications on our servers for over 30 years. CIT provides important services—software upgrades, hardware maintenance, capacity management, backup and recovery services, and full technical support—so that our customers’ applications can run smoothly and deliver important services to their users.

CIT hosts applications—including Web and database applications—on our OS/390, Unix, and Windows servers in the CIT data center on the NIH campus. In addition to the standard services mentioned above, our traditional full-service hosting offers:

- security validated by a yearly SAS 70 audit—saving you the expense of an additional audit
- firewall and intrusion detection services, penetration testing, security assessments
- maintenance and backups for your files
- a disaster recovery program available for your critical applications
- comprehensive change management
- redundant hardware and software in critical areas
- 24 x 7 system monitoring and problem resolution
- multiple platforms
- all server maintenance
- access to data on other systems
- dedicated application coordinators to help you

Collocation Services

•         What Does Collocation Mean?

Many organizations already own their own servers for hosting applications but find that they are simply running out of floor space or they lack the resources to house their servers properly. To address this problem, CIT now offers on-site and off-site collocation—housing customers' servers in a secure, climate-controlled environment, where they can control and access their own equipment.

In addition to the standard services, collocation provides:

- video monitoring for extra security
- 24 x 7 access to your server
- various space options for your servers
- charging based on the amount of rack space needed
(CIT can provide a full, or partial, standard-size rack for your use, or you can supply your own server racks.)

•         On-Site Collocation

The Customer Server Area (CSA)—in a secure, separate part of the CIT data center—is dedicated to housing your servers in our highly reliable facility. The CSA provides floor space, fully redundant power, climate control, high-bandwidth connectivity, and security, as well as an additional card-key-controlled access door.

The CSA is an attractive option for customers who have already invested in servers but have outgrown their current space.

•         Off-Site Collocation

For the first time, CIT is offering off-site collocation services to meet your growing needs. Your servers can be housed in a secure, off-site location—away from the NIH campus, yet under the auspices of CIT. The off-site collocation still ensures the full confidentiality, availability, and integrity of NIH information. Due to the off-campus location, this service could be used to provide you with a highly reliable, secure backup location for hosted applications and Web sites so that business can carry on as usual in the event of a disaster.

How Can I Learn More?

CIT is ready to help you—whether you choose to host your applications using the traditional full-service hosting (that is, on CIT OS/390, Unix, Windows servers), our on-site Customer Service Area, or our off-site facility.

Our staff looks forward to working with you to assess your hosting requirements and to help you determine which option best meets the needs of your organization.

To learn more about the various hosting options, please contact TASC at 301-594-6248, and ask to speak to the collocation staff, or send e-mail to datacenter@list.nih.gov.