ZNetIndia.com Colocation – Business Advantages

For the small or medium sized business, colocation can offer tremendous cost and performance benefits in comparison to hosting the same systems in-house. Choosing this type of service is only practical for the company that lacks the financial resources and physical space to maintain their internet hosting operations. If you can’t build your own data center, why not share one with another organization? Cost and convenience aside, a colocation can provider numerous benefits to your business.

Physical Security

Even with all the advanced security systems that can be installed, there is really nothing stopping a vandal or disgruntled employee from breaking into your office and making off with confidential information. The easiest and most common way for someone to steal sensitive data is directly off a disk or even a hard drive if they’re bold enough. While you could invest in tape backups, video surveillance and armed security guards, colocation is one of the most effective and affordable ways to secure your data.

Robust Power Supply

A good colocation facility will provide redundant power sources on a level that is very costly to duplicate in-house. Companies leveraging state of the art data centers offer full surge and lightning protection, multiple battery backups, and diesel-powered generators to compensate for extended outages. Their services also come along with a more expertise and equipment than most companies can afford. If you choose to run your network operations internally, you stand the risk of losing critical data and suffering extended periods of downtime due to blackouts, ice storms and other electrical disasters.

Cheaper Bandwidth

Though you may not realize it, most of the time, you are only using a small portion of the bandwidth available to you. However, if your server is run in-house, you will end up paying a lot more to compensate for probable traffic spikes, a factor that can make bandwidth very expensive. When leasing bandwidth from a colocation provider, you will only end up paying for the small percentage of bandwidth you actually need. Because many data centers have huge data pipes, if spikes do occur, the capacity will be available when you need it.

Environmental Protection

A colocation facility can protect your sensitive data and keep your servers running under a wide range of conditions. A well built data center will protect you during a flood or fire as well as other environmental conditions such as humidity and air pollution. Depending on the location, you may also be in the clear against earthquakes and hurricanes. What does this extra protection cost? Well, for the most part, it is shared amongst you and the other users who have their equipment stored in the data center. Considering that such a well designed facility isn’t cheap, it is far more cost effective to share the cost with other businesses rather than eating these expenses with the in-house route.

Any business looking to make the most out of their network technologies and equipment should consider colocation hosting. This type of solution will give you benefits that just cannot be obtained from running your systems internally. If you are sure this is the right move, jot down your list of needs, and compare service providers.

Courtesy ZNetIndia.com