Since the pandemic, businesses have seen an increased necessity to deploy cloud-based applications and cloud-related products into their workflow.

At the same time, technology-empowered growth initiatives have led to flexible cloud computing tools that enable organizations to deliver services and products faster and efficiently. These cloud models are also sorted for their expandability and attractive costs.

Datacenter cloud architecture can be challenging to run under in-house resources for cost and time sensitivity. A survey by Deloitte revealed that on-premises workload would drop from 59% to 35%, and cloud services will proliferate revenue by 30% by 2025.

This is where location data center facilities can drop in and help small and medium-sized businesses host and store their data in colocation centers allowing them to deploy their cloud infrastructure based on their business natures and preferences.

What is a Colocation Data Center? What Service do they Offer?  

Colocation data centers, also called ‘colo,’ aid small and medium-sized businesses in reducing the challenge of running their data centers for cloud-based applications.

Colocation data centers rent out server (or rack) space in extensive data facilities fully equipped with the power, cooling, and networking infrastructure necessary to run their operations smoothly and uninterrupted.

In addition, they eliminate the need to hire new resources and IT personnel, physical infrastructure and its affiliated expenses, physical space for servers and IT equipment, etc.

Instead, businesses can simply rent out the server space and begin to access their data on setup.

Services Offered by Colocation Data Center Facilities

Colocation centers are strategically designed to cater to industries with infrastructure for adequate and optimal cooling, bandwidth, physical security, IT equipment, automation, intelligent monitoring, etc.

They also offer storage and servers with the best data center design practices applied to racks, cabinets, cabling, power, and cooling requirements.

Types of Colocation Facilities

Colocation facilities can vary based on renting arrangement and cloud deployment needed for respective businesses. They are generally classified into the following:

Retail colocation

A space within the facility is rented or leased out to a customer. It can be a rack, a space within a rack, or a caged-off area.

Wholesale colocation

A tenant leases out an entire data center facility. This usually leads to a cheaper price when compared to other retail vendors in the industry.

Hybrid cloud-based colocation

In hybrid data center colocations, tenants opt for in-house and outsourced data center services. Businesses that require storing or hosting sensitive information like medical industries opt for this colocation service.

Benefits of Migrating to a Colocation Center

A colocation data center is shared by other businesses and tenants in a retail or hybrid facility. This means that the cost of power, cooling, communication silos, and data center floor space is shared, making it cheaper than having your own data center facility.

In case of sudden growth, businesses can simply utilize the resources and facilities of a colocation data center or augment their existing data center to the colocation facility.

Such setups promise a higher bandwidth when compared to that in an office server at a much-reduced cost. In addition, it allows for flexibility, scalability, and additional capabilities quickly.

Colocation data center facilities are more reliable with better redundancy providing low latency networks. It also provides recovery and resiliency with the best-in-class infrastructure and tools.

Higher levels of physical protection ensure that your data is constantly guarded. For example, CCTV cameras, private suites, mantraps, fire detection, suppression systems, etc., are available to safeguard the facility and the staff personnel within the facility.

Colocation Facilities and Data Center Cloud Architecture 

With data center cloud architecture, the public cloud is gaining the most popularity for managing and storing data. With a public cloud, businesses share cloud space with users globally, making the cloud facilities cheaper to access. In addition, like colocation data centers, the public cloud infrastructure and architecture are time-efficient.

The cloud providers will ultimately manage the servers, storage, and networking components. The cloud provider sets up the elements at their expense with industry standards, which spares you capital expenditure and operational costs.

Choosing to use cloud-based services or a cloud provider can vary depending on your need.

For example, if your data center is required for more productive tasks, using a cloud-based service can be a convenient option for you.

On the other hand, if rapid scaling and flexibility are your priority based on business needs, a cloud provider can be your best option.

Cloud providers manage and control the environment, infrastructure, and resources. It works well until the time of data expansion. Then, when more data is stored or hosted by the cloud provider, additional cost and space will be taken.

In this case, relying on a colocation data center is more flexible and can serve better than simply buying space on the cloud and running your business virtually.

Colocation, cloud services, and cloud providers have different characteristics. Physically hosting and soring your data in a colocation center promises better management and control over your data with security visibility and other aspects.

Cloud services and cloud providers can be cheaper as public cloud spaces are shared with global users.

But, if futuristic goals and your data management and control requirements are not feasible for cloud-based models in terms of cost and data management, colocation data center facilities for your cloud architecture can be the right fit for your business.

Gaining control of data hosting and storage while availing these services at a cheaper cost is possible with colocation data centers to host your cloud services.

Colocation data center cloud architecture can enhance your business operations, give your more visibility, enable scalability and flexibility.

Mechartes data center design experts have helped several companies understand their data center needs and requirements and have helped them deploy the right solution for their data center cloud architecture.

Knowing the colocation service that meets your requirements can help you determine the best course of action and take you forward for successful execution.