While some businesses have chosen to fully migrate into the cloud, others elect to maintain physical data centers out of preference, distrust of cloud security, or business requirements. Unfortunately, many of the latter businesses find that they lack the physical space to store the necessary additional hardware. Purchasing the necessary space for on-premises housing can run into multiple issues such as zoning, costs, and ensuring the hardware is secure, while remodeling existing space can become needlessly complicated and frustrating.
This is where colocation services come in handy.
What is colocation?
Colocation is when a third party provides space to house the physical hardware that makes up a client’s data center. Not only do they offer the necessary space to store servers, storage devices, and networking equipment, but they also provide all the power and cooling required to keep these machines running smoothly.
In simple terms, colocation allows a business to rent space within a larger data center, essentially “sharing” the infrastructure with other businesses. This eliminates the need for a business to maintain its own physical data center, saving them from the costs of building, maintaining, and staffing it.
What are the benefits of colocation?
Colocation offers many significant benefits beyond the most obvious ones of space and infrastructure.
Reduced downtime
Downtime can mean serious repercussions for businesses, as it can cause lost productivity, financial losses, and customer dissatisfaction. Colocation minimizes downtime by maintaining multiple redundancies, such as power backups, access to multiple different carrier networks, and emergency response plans, all of which together ensure uninterrupted availability.
In addition, colocation data centers are engineered to withstand natural disasters, offering a level of reliability that surpasses that offered by typical on-premises setups.
Cost savings
Constructing and maintaining a data center can pose a significant financial burden for businesses of any size. Colocation presents a cost-effective alternative by allowing businesses to lease existing space, sidestepping the upfront costs associated with construction and ongoing maintenance.
This transition to an operational expense model offers a more predictable monthly payment structure, freeing up capital expenses for other needs and allowing internal IT teams to focus on revenue-generating initiatives.
Easy scalability
Predicting the exact size of a data center to meet both current and future needs is a challenging feat. Colocation addresses this concern by providing the flexibility to rent existing space, enabling quick scalability based on a business’s needs. This scalability extends not only to physical space but also to power and bandwidth, providing a dynamic solution to accommodate fluctuating requirements.
Regulatory compliance
Navigating complex regulatory requirements can be a formidable task. Fortunately, colocation data centers undergo regular audits, ensuring compliance with standards such as SOC 2, HIPAA, and PCI DSS. Through colocation, businesses simplify the process of meeting compliance requirements by leveraging the data center’s already certified infrastructure.
Security
Colocation offers a combination of digital and physical security measures, including firewall technology, stringent access controls, physical barriers and locks, and on-site personnel. Such security measures provide the highest level of protection for your servers and data, eliminating any concerns about theft, damage, or unauthorized access..
Dedicated expertise
Managing a data center demands specialized knowledge that can be expensive for a business to maintain internally. Colocation services are supported by dedicated teams who are available around the clock to oversee the facility, ensuring optimal performance and freeing up client IT resources.
Resource efficiency
By entrusting the complexities of data center management to colocation providers, businesses gain the efficiency to redirect IT resources toward various other initiatives. This allows client IT teams to concentrate on innovation, customer experiences, and the development of new business models.
Learn more about colocation and how it can benefit your business by contacting Liberty Center One. Speak with one of our experts.