With a more digital world than ever before, the way that organizations store their data and private information is becoming increasingly important around the globe and across industries of all kinds.
In today’s blog, we’re exploring what colocation is and how it can be incorporated into a highly successful data storage strategy for companies of all sizes.
What is Colocation?
Colocation data centers, also commonly referred to as ”colo,” are a solution to the need for highly secure, yet highly accessible data storage for businesses and organizations alike. These facilities lease space for data center infrastructure to their clients within a managed service environment. The customers own their own computer, storage, and networking assets, but the colocation data center provides the space, security measures, and resiliency.
Essentially, the colocated data center houses many different clients’ servers in one location, and those clients then reap the benefits of outsourcing their data storage in terms of incredibly high levels of security, data availability, uptime, on-site IT assistance, and more that the standard on-premise data center may not have the resources to provide independently. All of those different clients are co-located together in one building and sharing the resources that the center has to offer – Colocation!
Rather than having to pay an up-front cost for all of the security measures and reliability for their own data storage solution, organizations that choose to take advantage of a colocated data center are able to have all of the the benefits of a high tech and secure data center by simply leasing however much space they need in an existing colocation data center.
What Services are Offered by a Colocation Data Center?
Typically, colocation data centers offer the infrastructure (building), power, cooling, connectivity, and physical security, etc. while the customer provides their own servers, storage and switch/routing gear.
Ordinarily, the space at a facility is leased by the room, cage, rack, cabinet or even by the “U”. Many colocation data centers today are expanding their portfolio to extend additional services such as “Remote Hands” or “Smart Hands” services to offer even further flexibility and options for their customers.
Why Choose Colocation Data Centers?
Unlike on-premise data storage or even exclusive cloud storage, colocation data centers offer scalability, continuity and security for web/software applications, client data, and management systems at much higher levels than most companies are able to achieve on their own.
Colocation facilities often provide access to the most advanced data center technologies available, while removing the need to build, staff and manage their own in-house server rooms or on-premise data center space. This operational flexibility gives colocation customers the ability to focus on their core business strengths and revenue opportunities.
Whether exclusively harnessing the benefits of a colocation data center, or doing so as a part of a larger hybrid model data storage plan, colocation is an undeniably great way to store, secure, and access even the most mission-critical data for your business or organization.
Learn more about our approach to data storage and reliability to discover the power of colocation here at Rack59.
