Many businesses seem to use colocation, but why? The short version is colocation hosting can significantly expand server capabilities. Not only does it provide the needed resource stability for a server, but also is cost-efficient.
The technical specifics of colocation will make it clear to you why it’s commonly used. On the hostzealot.com, you can learn about the colocation parameters, and start using the colocation services.
If you want an introduction to colocation, keep reading.
What is colocation?
Colocation services imply storing your physical servers or hardware in a rented space in a data center. Basically, you place the servers that you own in a third-party data center also referred to as a colocation center.
Colocation centers have the necessary resources for servers to function without disruptions. The facilities are characterized by having excellent connectivity, a reliable power supply, an effective cooling system, and a team of professional troubleshooters. More specifically, colocation services provide sufficient bandwidth and physical security for your server and equipment of different organizations.
So, with colocation, you can ensure the proper functioning of your server without the need to invest into a private data center. Alternatively, you can opt for in-house storage, but this way things like uninterrupted power supply or cooling aren’t at all guaranteed.
Thus, businesses can rent the space in a third-party data center, and let the colocation provider handle the vital aspects such as connectivity and power supply. From colocation services, you can also expect monitoring and testing of equipment, hardware inspection, and reporting if certain things require attention.
Benefits of colocation for your business
Colocation can significantly benefit your business in specific ways. Let’s look at some of them.
Better security and protection
Data centers that you rent a space at provide much better security than many other solutions. Colocation services can give your business a unique attribute – the physical and technological security of your server, achieved through the on-site security staff, and robust cybersecurity protocols, including firewalls, data breach protection, and backups.
Besides, compared to conventional hosting, with colocation you know exactly what’s going on with your hardware and whether there’s a need to improve it.
Expanded scalability
Colocation provides options to scale your resources up and down based on your needs. With it, you aren’t required to commit to something if you’re not sure what the future will bring for your business.
You may need to increase storage or bandwidth or something else, and with a flexible hosting plan you can easily do so. Moreover, colocation services often offer a direct connection to the cloud providers, giving you multiple options on how and what to improve.
With colocation, you can also place different servers in different locations, some of which could be closer to your target audience than others; it can decrease the latency and improve the overall user (potential customer) experience.
Cost efficiency
Moving your servers to a colocation center can be rather cost-saving.
When businesses take on the responsibility for server management themselves, it may bring about additional expenses of various origins including forming a specialized team, managing a “server modification” budget, taking measures for securing your server, etc.
Colocation eliminates most of the similar worries since the responsibility for monitoring and maintaining the server is on the data center you rent the space from.
Increased reliability and server stability
Colocation eliminates the chances of issues like power outages, and connectivity disruptions. The stability that the server gets with guaranteed resources ensures that your online presence is consistent, and downtime is minimal.
Uptime metrics are crucial for SEO rankings and the overall reliability of the services your business provides. Besides, colocation centers provide on-site hardware diagnostics and scalability options, which can allow your server to handle more traffic if necessary. Therefore, colocation services can grant both you and your business the reliability you were looking for.
24\7 technical support
For businesses frequent or prolonged downtime is never beneficial. Thus, it is important to have someone on site ready to assist in case any issues arise.
Besides, monitoring server performance is useful for keeping your hardware up-to-date and functioning, making scalability and security choices.
What you should know about colocation services
If we compare colocation services with dedicated server hosting solutions, the clear difference is in the dedicated server being owned by a hosting provider, and colocating server being owned by a client.
To get colocation services one needs to own a physical server, and not rent it from a hosting provider – this is an important correction. One needs to transport the server to the data center by oneself.
The customer rents the space and stores a server (or multiple) at the colocation center but remains the owner of the hardware that they transferred.
Many businesses choose colocation for the sake of maintaining control over their server, all the while ensuring that the space they rent can meet the server demands to further achieve the business goals that have been set.
