Colocation Hosting
Server colocation (co-location, collocation) is a popular option for individuals and small businesses who require all the advantages of having a popular website with lots of hits, but at the same time don't want to pay for the bandwidth necessary for that popularity. You still pay, but not for bandwidth – it is a price for rental.A company will store its sensitive data on a server, and then places the server to another location. This place is the home operation center of the server colocation provider. Once your server is there, the colocation provider installs your server in their rack. As a result, you are sharing bandwidth with the colocation service provider – this is how you avoid paying bandwidth fees. You can also rent a server from the colocation company. In this case you own the data but not a part of the process.
Once the server is installed, you get an IP address that permits you to connect to your server, and enables your visitors to connect to your website. If you have the high traffic and a lot of high-density files constantly being downloaded from your website, then you are going to have high bandwidth. By placing the bandwidth responsibility with the colocation server provider, you avoid paying for it. Certainly, you will need to pay for the space your server takes up. Sometimes this charge is higher than what you would pay if you hosted the server yourself. However, your overall expenses will be less with server colocation.
The major benefit of server colocation is that the service provider is typically perfectly equipped to manage the problems that may arise in the normal function of servers. For instance, to combat power outages, the provider will have backup power to keep the servers running if electricity is removed for some reason.
Another significant advantage of server colocation is that the provider will have a more secure location for the servers than you might establish in your home or office. You may have your own security at home or at the office, but when it comes to the security of the business address, the server colocation provider is better.
As for disadvantages, there is probably only one significant drawback. That is having to access a different physical place if you need to upgrade your server or its software. In general, it can be said that advantages prevail.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Colocation Service Provider
The data center of choice needs to adhere to a set protocol that will include high end security, fast internet connectivity, environment, power backup and fire protection measures. The collocation hosting providers selection is more than simply choosing a high end data center – it is rather a combination of numerous factors, the most important being flexibility and control which is best shown by the freedom to choose the software and the hardware configuration.
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