Thursday, 4 September 2014 Blog ehdf

Four Factors To Consider When Choosing Co-location Hosting

Let’s begin with the basics: co-location is an IT service which allows businesses to rent space for their servers and other computing hardware in a data centre facility. Typically, a co-location facility provides space, power, cooling, bandwidth and physical security. More recently, service providers have started to offer managed co-location, which combines traditional co-location with managed services.

There are many reasons for businesses to opt for co-location, but the main driver is reducing CAPEX associated with building, maintaining and updating a data centre facility. Another advantage of co-location is that it lets you focus on your core business objectives and gives you access to a secure facility which is managed by experts. Given the benefits of co-location, it is important to choose a services provider that best suits your requirements.

Below are four factors that must be kept in mind while choosing a co-location facility:

1. Security:
Security is critical for any business as confidentiality of sensitive company data is paramount. Therefore, while choosing a co-location facility, it is essential to know the level of security that the service provider offers, in terms of physical security of the data centre. Some elements include: 24/7 security guards, access control systems, CCTV camera surveillance, etc.

2. 24/7 Support:
The most important reason for businesses to collocate is to make sure that their servers are always up and running. This makes it important to choose a services provider who offers 24/7 Service desk support which can act as remote hands for tasks such as physical server re-boot, etc.

3. Guarantee of Availability:
High availability and reduced downtime ensures survival of business in the long term. Therefore, while choosing a co-location facility, opt for a service provider that can offer high availability of power, cooling and internet services in compliance with the application requirements. This is also usually guaranteed through Service Level Agreements (SLAs) that offer high quality of service.

4. Flexibility:
While choosing a co-location provider, you must ensure that the provider offers flexibility in their offering so that you can co-locate only a part of your IT environment, for instance, mission critical data, business applications, and applications that need more bandwidth. The solution should be flexible so that it provides complete control over your co-location needs and enables you to purchase the amount of space that you need today and scale it as your business grows without having to make additional capital investments.

With these tips, you should be able to choose the right co-location facility that matches your needs and business requirements.