Server Colocation: How Will It Work For You?

In today's digital age, businesses rely on robust and reliable IT infrastructure to manage their operations effectively. However, the cost of maintaining an in-house data center is often too high for many companies. Enter server colocation—a cost-effective and efficient solution that allows businesses to rent space in a third-party data center for their servers. 

But what exactly is server colocation, and how can it benefit your business? Let’s explore this in more detail.

What is Server Colocation?

Server colocation is outsourcing your server hardware to a third-party data center. Instead of running your own data center, you rent space within a facility operated and owned by a colocation provider, such as rack units or even entire racks. They take responsibility for basic infrastructure needs such as power, cooling, physical security, and internet connectivity while leaving it up to you to completely control your servers' hardware, software, and data.

How Does Server Colocation Work?

Hosting Your Servers

In a colocation, you bring your server hardware to a colocation provider's data center. The provider assigns a reserved space for your equipment- from one server to a whole rack and beyond, depending on your equipment size.

Infrastructure Management

While you own and maintain your hardware, the colocation provider addresses the key infrastructure needs, such as providing stable power, cooling systems, and high-speed internet connectivity. The above setup will ensure that your servers perform efficiently without the hassle of maintaining an in-house facility.

Remote Management

You operate your servers remotely since colocation facilities are offered with remote desktop applications, control panels, or VPNs. Colocation data centers also ensure that on-site technicians can undertake routine tasks like server restarts or replace parts, if any, for your servers.

Physical Security

Colocation data centers offering services are equipped with robust physical security aspects such as biometric access, CCTV surveillance, and 24/7 monitoring to ensure that your servers are safe from unauthorized access.

Bandwidth and Connectivity

Colocation providers usually provide high-speed internet connections with multiple network paths for redundancy to ensure uptime and performance. Depending on your business's data traffic requirements, you can also have several bandwidths.

Advantages of Server Colocation for Your Business

Cost Benefits

The most significant benefit you realize from colocation is cost savings. You will have invested much money into space or building the data center and all capital expenditures for equipment, utilities, and security investments. You will never have this upfront investment in a facility and associated operational and maintenance expenses in colocation. Instead, you pay a monthly fee and can utilize these elsewhere.

Higher Uptime and Reliability

Colocation providers invest in advanced cloud infrastructure that ensures continuous uptime. For example, data centers have backup power supplies, redundant network connections, and failover systems to protect against a blackout. This reliability level provides the probability that your servers will function even during unexpected system shutdowns such as a power failure.

Scalability

Colocation allows you to scale your infrastructure according to the needs of your business. Whether it is more server space or bandwidth, the colocation providers offer flexible solutions that can be scaled up or down to suit your needs once your requirements change. This makes it an ideal solution for growing businesses or those with changing demands.

Improved Security

Robust Security Features in a Colocation Data Center A colocation data center is always designed with high-security standards. From monitoring 24x7 to using biometric access controls, the physical security at these facilities is much stronger than most in-house setups. In addition, most colocation providers offer extra services like firewalls and managed security services to protect your data.

Focus on Core Competencies

With colocation, you can offload the work of infrastructural management to the provider and focus much more on your core business activities. Your IT team can spend less time worrying about power, cooling, and maintenance and more time working on innovation that drives growth.

Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Colocation services are an essential part of your disaster recovery strategy. This is because you keep your servers in a remote facility, far away from natural disasters, fire, or other catastrophic events within your primary office. Geographical redundancy is likely present among most colocation centers, and your data will be placed in several locations to provide a higher level of protection.

Access to Expert Support

Most colocation providers offer 24/7 technical support and on-site staff to handle hardware and network troubleshooting. This can be a significant benefit, especially for businesses without the resources to have their full-time IT team on-site.

Is Server Colocation Right for You?

While there are many advantages to having your servers collocated, there are better solutions for some businesses. Here are a few factors to consider when determining whether colocation is right for you: Cost vs. Cloud Services

Colocation can be appropriate if your business is more capital-intensive and needs to devote computing resources but more capital to invest in cloud infrastructure. Cloud hosting can be best suited in a scenario with minimal hardware management needs.

Customization Needs

Colocation gives you control of all hardware, which is perfect for business needs in terms of specialized hardware requirements or customized settings that may not be readily attainable in managed hosting or cloud service.

IT Expertise

Colocation involves IT expertise, primarily in hardware management, operating systems, and security. If your company team is well-geared for such tasks, colocation works for you.

Conclusion

Server colocation offers a robust way for businesses to upgrade their cloud infrastructure without the burden of building and managing a facility as a data center. It's cost-effective, scalable, secure, and reliable, suitable for small, medium, or large businesses. If you require complete control over your hardware and data and the benefits of a top-notch facility, server colocation may be what you are looking for.