What are Colocation Services?

Introduction

Colocation services allow businesses to host their data in a third-party data center that has privately-owned networking equipment and servers. Instead of maintaining servers in-house, at a private data center, or in offices, enterprises can elect to co-locate their infrastructure by renting space in a colocation center.

Unlike other types of hosting where clients can rent server space owned by a hosting vendor, with colocation, the client owns the server and rents the physical space needed to house it in a data center. The colocation service rents out data center space where clients can install their equipment. It also provides the cooling, IP address, bandwidth, and power systems that the customer needs to deploy their servers.

Colocation services ensure strict standards of security by implementing measures such as biometric access control and employing security guards. The data centers are very resilient and have UPS backups to safeguard against power outages, including those caused by flooding, fire, or natural disasters.

The colocation center rents out space in the forms of cabinets and racks. A rack is used to keep hardware and equipment, usually horizontally. One rack unit measures 1.75 inches and the pricing for colocation packages is calculated based on the number of units needed. A full-size rack is termed a cabinet. Depending on your requirements and budget, you can rent partial, half, or full cabinets.

Features of Colocation Services

Cooling

Colocation services utilize cooling systems to safeguard your hardware. These include redundant HVAC solutions and chiller configurations (e.g., water loop pumps, cooling towers, and centrifugal chillers).

Physical Security

Leading colocation centers maintain high physical security standards, by using biometric authorization, 24/7/365 surveillance, and on-site security guards.

Power

Colocation data centers utilize battery backup and/or redundancy systems or uninterruptible power platforms to ensure continuous power supply round the clock.

Facilities

Colocation services offer space in their data center for your company’s IT hardware. They audit these facilities for reliability, and amenities include cable trays, cabinets, and racks for your equipment.

Reliability

Find a provider who can provide six nines dependability. This means 99.9999% infrastructure uptime which assures downtime will be maximum of 54 minutes per year. Top colocation services even guarantee 100% availability.

Hybrid IT and Cloud Connectivity

Most companies do not have just a cloud-only plan. Many new apps are being built for public clouds. Cloud interconnectivity has become important for businesses and it is essential to have ensure application integration between colocation, private cloud, and public cloud.

Benefits of Colocation Services

Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery

Companies can hire servers in a data center rather than maintain them on premise as this gives them extra disaster recovery options in case of power loss, enabling them to access business critical data at all times.

Data Center Infrastructure

With colocation, you can enjoy the benefits of data center infrastructure, while keeping control over the configuration and maintenance of your servers. This reduces costs and frees up your office space.

Flexibility

You can opt for bespoke build to personalize your colocation package. Plus, you can decide which system aspects to focus on and select from a wide variety of facilities for individual budgets and infrastructures.

Physical Security

Colocation services offer higher levels of physical security compared to in-house hosting. They typically use advanced security measures such as lockable cabinets, CCTV monitoring, and more.

Low network Latency

With colocation, network latency is much lower and reliability far higher. The data centers are fully protected from power outages and they employ 24/7 staff who will resolve issues any time of the day or night.

Economies of Scale

By opting for colocation, your company gains from economies of scale which would not be possible with in-house hosting. House your IT hardware in a colocation center to enjoy higher bandwidth levels at an affordable cost.