Colocation refers to rental space for privately-owned servers and other computing hardware at a third-party data centre facility. Colocation services include a building where all data services are housed, as well as physical security, networking, redundant cooling components, which then support server/s provided by customer. Compared to in-house data centres, colocation offers an array of benefits. When a client chooses colocation, they get a chance to rent out space in a scalable, secure and reliable data centre. Below are the key benefits of colocation services.

1. Scalability

When infrastructure is the main concern, being able to scale resources (up and down) is very important. And, scalability is one of the key benefits of colocation hosting. It allows customers to scale up and downgrade resources depending on website traffic. By releasing resources, when you don’t require them anymore, you can reduce IT cost.

2. Predictable cost

Colocation offers benefits of predictable Opex (operational expenditure) as well as the Capex (capital expenditure) model. This means clients can leverage their existing infrastructure, buy or lease servers. Clients have to pay for equipment being used rather than whole data centre.

3. Security

With biometric scanners, on-site security, alarm systems, CCTV camera systems, colocation data centres are secure. Network hosting providers offer vulnerability scanners, blacklisting of IPs and firewall services to fend off attacks.

4. 24x7 support

A support team is always there to provide assistance to customers 24x7. With colocation, businesses don’t have to worry about patch management and other support facilities which requires IT staff.

5. Reliability uptime

Colocation data centres provide approximately 100% uptime, which is difficult to achieve in house. A good data centre is equipped with emergency backup generators, UPS, fully-fault tolerant network and HVAC systems which ensure that a website won’t suffer due to natural disasters.

6. Compliance

Colocation data centre enables any organisation to easily and cost-effectively maintain compliance with changing industry standards. As risk of cyber-attacks increases, many data centre providers offer SSAE standards, PCI and HIPAA- compliant disaster recovery services.

7. Redundancy

Colocation centres provide facility of robust power-per-square foot ratio, allowing companies to leverage innovations. The data centres offer redundancy through combination of double backup systems, diesel power generators and multiple power grids.

In a nutshell, the other reasons are dependable performance, cost savings, peace of mind and more. These reason make colocations smart data centres.

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