What is Colocation? A guide to Colocation services.

06 April 2023

What is Colocation?

Colocation enables businesses to rent space within a data centre to house their hardware. This provides the company with access to data centre infrastructure, as well as the ability to access their data from anywhere. Colocation provides businesses with the security and reliability of dedicated server hosting, while providing them with more control over their IT infrastructure as the business provides their own hardware. Economies of scale enable businesses to access data centre infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of building their own facility. In this article, we will discuss what colocation is and how it can serve your business. We will also look at the differences between colocation and other types of hosting solutions such as cloud hosting and dedicated server hosting.

Benefits of Colocation for your business

Colocation is a great way to save on costs while improving the resilience of your IT infrastructure. By having your servers hosted in a colocation facility, you can benefit from scalability and increased redundancy. Additionally, colocation provides improved resilience and uptime for your servers by providing multiple power sources and redundant storage solutions. There is also the additional security that comes from having your servers located at a different premises.

What to look for in a Colocation service provider

Security considerations- Physical & logical security

When evaluating a colocation provider, it is important to consider the security measures they have in place. The data centre in which you are looking to locate your equipment within should be compliant with industry-standard security standards. This means that all aspects of the colocation provider's operations must be secure and up to date in order to protect sensitive customer data.

It is also important to make sure that the colocation provider has taken steps to ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations, such as GDPR and HIPAA. The provider should also have a comprehensive security policy in place, which includes measures such as encryption, firewalls, malware protection, and regular vulnerability scans. Lastly, it is important to evaluate the physical security of the facility itself, including access control systems and other measures designed to prevent unauthorized access or tampering with equipment or data.

Connectivity and Power Backup

All data centres should offer high levels of ultrafast connectivity. Power backup should be in place so that if the mains power goes down batteries take over as an immediate back-up. Generators should also be on hand to keep the data centre running for days if required.

Environmental monitoring and cooling equipment

A range of sensors should monitor the temperature, humidity, water leakage, airflow, air quality, smoke, and security within a data centre. Cooling equipment should be in place to maintain optimal temperatures. When you are providing your own hardware at a cost to your business it is important to ensure that the data centre you select to locate it within provides optimal conditions ensuring longevity of the equipment.

Questions you may ask a Colocation provider include:

• How safe and secure is the facility?
• How redundant is the facility in terms of power and network uptime?
• How flexible are their colocation services (contract lengths, range of rack size options, bandwidth, power usage, remote hands)?
• What uptime does the facility guarantee?
• Does the provider own or lease the data centre?
• Does the provider provide any additional support if needed? Are there engineers on site?

Colocation in comparison to Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Server Hosting

Colocation enables businesses to locate their own hardware within a data centre. With dedicated server hosting a business rents an existing server within a data centre. Therefore, the main difference between colocation and dedicated servers is that with colocation the business provides the hardware, whereas with dedicated servers the hardware is provided as part of the cost. With Cloud Hosting Services, businesses can rent virtual space to store their assets and run their day to day systems.

Table comparing Cloud, Colocation and Dedicated Servers

Colocation with CloudConnX

CloudConnX offer colocation at a choice of robust data centre locations. Some are owned by us, others we rent space within. Locations include East Sussex, Croydon and London Docklands. Other locations are available on demand. All of the facilities we provide colocation at offer power, cooling, network, and physical security as standard. Our co-location environments are heavily monitored to ensure that power, cooling and security is maintained. Support for your equipment is your own responsibility, however we are able to provide remote hands at additional cost. Backup power is standard at each of our facilities. If the power goes down batteries will take over as an immediate back-up. We also have generators, capable of keeping the whole operation running for days if required.

If you would like more information about our Colocation services please visit the colocation page on our website, emailThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 0330 122 0550 and a member of the team will be happy to help. We are also able to provide Dedicated Servers and Virtual/Cloud Servers so if you are unsure which solution would best suit your business we can talk you through the options available.

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