Organizations of all sizes are increasingly turning to colocation as an alternative to in-house and managed hosting. Colocation is a service that allows you to store your servers and network equipment in a hosting provider’s data center. This type of arrangement has numerous benefits. First of all, your business gets a connection to the internet, along with the network infrastructure of a professional IT company. Unlike dedicated hosting, you own the server and typically have 24/7 access to the colocation facility for maintenance purposes.
What’s Involved in Colocation?
The services colocation typically provide are storage space for your server hardware and other equipment and bandwidth. Other features available for an additional fee may include server administration, data backups and security mechanisms, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems. Perhaps the most important feature is the facility’s design, as it should be equipped with the highly redundant systems needed prevent service interruptions and assure the maximum availability.
Factors to Consider
While colocation is definitely a beneficial service, whether or not you enjoy these benefits all depends on the location of the facility and the provider itself. Location is extremely important because you want you or your IT staff to have quick and convenient access to the equipment. The company behind the service is essential because you want to put your servers and mission-critical data in the hands of someone who can be relied upon and trusted. With the right company which places you in an ideal location, you can have the advantage of a state of the art data center that is far more reliable than an in-house setup and provides more flexibility than a managed hosting solution.