What is colocation?
Colocation on the surface is a simple concept. Instead of keeping servers in-house or in privately run data centres, businesses can rent physical space for their hardware and colocate in a third-party data centre.
The beauty of colocation is that the data centre provider will manage all of the important aspects such as network connectivity, power, and cooling, but the business retains full control over and access to the infrastructure.
How does colocation work?
Colocation has become an extremely attractive prospect for businesses looking to scale their IT capabilities whilst ensuring costs stay at a minimum.
With the majority of colocation services, businesses will purchase their own equipment or move their existing hardware and pay a colocation provider (either a managed service provider or data centre) for resources and space in a data centre. Subsequently, the business is responsible for the setting up, configuration, and maintenance of their server.
Why would you choose colocation?
For businesses who want the benefits of hosting their architecture in best-in-class data centres, while still retaining the control and access of on-premise infrastructure, colocation may be a solution. With a colocation solution you can retain the flexibility of managing your own equipment and network, without the cost and hassle of maintaining hardware in your own facility. Space is easily rented based on your current requirements and can easily be scaled up as the business grows.
What are the benefits of colocation?
- Cost-effective: Running an established IT infrastructure on-site can be an extremely costly process. Moving away from the traditional process of managing IT services in-house and outsourcing within a data centre has been proven to be an effective method to manage IT spending. Colocation plans provide businesses with a comprehensive plan, often for a fixed rolling fee, that encompasses support, security, redundancy, and connectivity all-in-one.
- Scalability: Much of the value of colocation rests with the customisation and flexibility of the solution on offer. When a business decides to colocate in a data centre, they only have to pay for what they require at that current moment, however, this can adapt as needs change. Every colocation facility has the flexibility to expand, meaning that businesses have the ability to grow or expand into their space in line with ever-changing business needs and customer demands.
- Facilities: Data centres offer high availability and uptime, with redundant power supplies and emergency generators to keep data centres up and running at all times. They also offer improved bandwidth and lower latency, compared to hosting your own infrastructure on-premise.
- Disaster Recovery: Colocation also allows you to implement a disaster recovery plan and back up your mission-critical data to another data centre. Disasters can occur at any time, and if your IT infrastructure is kept on premise, data could be lost or destroyed. Backing up your data to a separate data centre location ensures that in the event of a disaster, your mission-critical applications will remain up and running.
Colocating with a managed service provider
There is no doubt colocation can provide businesses with the chance to grow, while managing costs in line with the needs of the business. Although colocation provides businesses with the freedom to scale and manage their IT infrastructure, many businesses are now looking for an effective colocation service with a managed service on top.
A managed service provider will look after every aspect of your infrastructure, including physical hardware, software updates, and general maintenance, allowing your business to focus on what matters to you.
Colocation with Hyve
We provide colocation to our customers on a global scale, with the option to colocate in any of our multiple data centers in key locations worldwide.
We can either perform a ‘lift and shift’ operation where we migrate existing IT infrastructures into our data centre, or we can provide bespoke ‘kit to rack’ within our data centres. In all cases, we provide you with a resilient environment and the ongoing support that you need. When working with Hyve, you are allocated one account contact to manage all data centre locations, wherever they are in the world. We provide direct-to-engineer support 24/7/365, so if you do experience any issues with your infrastructure we will be there to help.
To find out how Hyve can help you with your colocation needs or for more information on where you can relocate your IT infrastructure, fill out our contact form and one of our experts will be in touch.
