Also known as data center colocation, colocation is an off-premise multi-tenant solution to ballooning IT problems. It allows enterprises to enjoy all the benefits of a physical server at a remote third-party facility for a fixed subscription fee.
These facilities host state-of-the-art data center hardware that comes with server monitoring and security, efficient power and cooling, and cloud connectivity. They are manned round-the-clock by staff with engineering or security expertise and provide an environment for your servers to run smoothly 24/7/365.
Businesses can benefit from cost-efficient colocation services because they eliminate the need to build and maintain an enterprise data center on-site and ensure those resources always enable core business growth. Not to mention, it does away with risky capital investment and long lead-up times to get those data centers up and running. This is particularly favorable towards small and medium enterprises (SME), as it provides the IT assets of a large-scale enterprise at a fraction of the cost and time.
Colocation services have several benefits beyond cost-savings. Here are just a few:
Uninterrupted Server Uptime and Increased Reliability
Power outages and overheating server hardware result in costly data loss or halted operations. Colocation facilities resolve these issues, providing multiple backup generators for uninterrupted power supply and cooling systems to mitigate overheating systems.
Similarly, colocation data centers provide a fully redundant, dedicated network for better connectivity and always-on access to business-critical data and applications. They also act as remote backup hardware for data and applications, in case of a natural disaster or during an office relocation. Core business software systems and website domains can run uninterrupted in colocation facilities, where your servers remain unaffected.
On-site data centers and IT hardware normally require an entire department that will optimize their performance and address problems. With colocation services, you benefit from the expertise of providers who can assign their IT personnel to maintain and manage the servers, further ensuring their reliability and uptime — all included in the subscription fee.
Data Security and Simplified Compliance
Yearly accounts have proven that data breaches are growing in frequency and sophistication. For The National Bank of Blacksburg in Virginia, a breached system in 2016 cost them $2.4 million, still uncovered and tied up in litigation today. Such losses are devastating to a company’s time, resources, and reputation, especially for SMEs, which is why cybersecurity services are a top priority for colocation providers.
Colocation services relieve enterprises of the burden of security and compliance. Colocation providers protect servers with layers of physical and network security, such as locked cabinets, alarms, industry-standard security policies, firewalls, encryption, and intrusion detection systems (IDS). You can expect them to be security experts, who are up to date with security methods, policies, and risks and observer strict compliance with regulatory guidelines such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Customization, Scalability, and Increased Capabilities
To say that “on-site IT hardware can be an inconvenience” is an understatement. Business needs constantly change and you don’t want to be trapped with expensive servers that can’t scale with those changes.
Colocation addresses that by giving businesses the agility to pay for only what they use. Their data center infrastructures allow for safely upgrading or downgrading server power, capacity, efficiency, reliability, security, and bandwidth without delay.
Freed-up Budgets and Growth Investments
On-site servers are a cost-sink taking up resources such as power, office space, and expensive technicians, and requiring risk mitigation strategies, such as temperature management. For instance, the electricity to power a single server rack in an on-site data center costs $120,000 over 10 years. It’s in these cases when IT can literally hold back the business.
Colocation, by contrast, frees up space and budget, which you can re-allocate toward growth projects. It takes server maintenance and management out of your office and into a secure and fully managed data center, so you can focus on business-critical tasks.
At Single Point Global, we know that all data centers need to scale cost-efficiently with growing business demands. Get in touch with us today for a free consultation.
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