Colocation centre or simply colo is a datacentre where bandwidth, space and equipment are available for retail and rental customers. “Carrier hotels” is another term whereas the facility supports space, power, storage, cooling, networking equipment and physical server security for company-owned servers kept within the premises. Besides this, connection between a variety of telecommunication and network service vendors with minimum cost and complexity is another feature.
The benefits
Since its evolution, colocation has been a preferred options for businesses with midsize IT requirement especially those serving computing and internet relevant industries. It allow organisations to focus the IT and technical personnel on the actual work rather than logistic support in the backend. Larger facilities cover an area that’s approximately 4,500 to 9,500 square metres which is around 50,000 to 10,000 square feet.
Business corporations that have tested colocation claimed the following benefits;
- Real-time operational and predictable expense model
- Additional capacity can be implemented quick and inexpensively per the need
- Greater space and power accessibility
- Data centre facility managed by industry veterans
- A unified network of partners within the same facility
- Cloud strategy composition under dedicated infrastructure
- Flexible infrastructure to manage tasks during rapid transformation and possible restructuring
- Clear and concise roadmap for disaster recovery
A colocation facility offers its services as a retail rental business on contract basis. Here’s what you’ll get;
- Cages or rack cabinets with locks
- AC, DC and various formats of power supply
- Network connection – either a house blend where colocation provider is actually customer of carriers connecting clients to their own router, accessing multiple carriers.
Or it can be a cross connect where router carrier have access themselves
- Cooling
- Live monitoring for maximum safety and security (can be a part of disaster recovery plan)
- Physical security which includes biometric and badge access, video surveillance, logging and other similar features
Redundant systems for all these features are also provided to reduce issues whenever there’s a failure. Among economies of scale which is categorising many small to midsize customers under one roof, it includes;
- Higher level of reliability due to redundant systems
- 24/7 real-time monitoring by engineers
- Low network disconnection, higher bandwidth at a pocket-friendly cost
- Expert personnel such as network and facilities engineers; not entirely cost-effective for a single client to hold on a payroll but guaranteed professional service
Major customers of managed colocation:
- Ecommerce firms utilising facilities for safe and budgeted environment with super-fast internet connection
- Disaster recovery, offsite data backup and business continuity services by big-time corporations
- Telecommunication industries that exchange traffic with other firms of the same operations and have access to potential clients. A colocation facility where a group of carriers are physically present; usually known as “carrier hotel”; it increases the value to particular class of potential customers
- Ecommerce companies with their dedicated servers kept in a data centre for secure transaction
Alignment
A wide of customers ranging from large to small business enterprises harness the services of colocation vendors. A customer is typically owner of the IT equipment and facility which cater cooling and power. Clienteles maintain control over equipment use and design but routine management of the entire data centre and relevant services are looked upon by the tenants of vendors.
- Cabinets
It’s actually a locking unit to dock server rack. In a multi-tier data centre, servers with cabinets share raised-floor space with other occupants. They also share power and cooling within the infrastructure!
- Cages
It’s a private and dedicated server space kept in a traditional raised floor data warehousing facility surrounded by meshed walls and have lock-door access.
- Modules
Purpose-engineered units providing scalable data centre capacity! They utilise standardised components allowing easy integration or retrofit within the existing data centre infrastructure; an easy and budget friendly solution. Steel walls, full-fledged security protocol, power infrastructure, cooling and various features to that of a typical data centre are provided!
Conclusion
Colocation facilities have multiple points for fibre-optic cables to enter the premises thus providing redundancy and smooth operating functions. The above discussion clearly highlights all you need to know about colocation facilities.