Colocation data centers offer an efficient and convenient way for businesses to maintain their infrastructures by renting space for servers and computer software rather than investing time and money into building their own data center. Colocation hosting can save a lot of stress and frustration. However, the colocation market has its downsides, too.
It’s important to understand both the advantages and disadvantages of using a colocation facility for your data center so you can make an informed decision should you choose to work with one. That being said, here are some of the most common pros and cons of using colocation hosting.
What are the benefits of colocation hosting?
Colocation data centers offer businesses a flexible and secure hosting site for their servers. When using colocation hosting, you can feel confident knowing that you have greater outage protection because colocation data centers facilitate power generators and backup power to deal with the risk of power loss.
This is especially beneficial to businesses who don’t always have the time to tackle data center downtimes during a long-duration power loss. It’s also beneficial if you don’t have adequate air conditioning. About 65% of IT equipment failures are directly attributed to poorly maintained, inadequate, or failed air conditioning in the server room.
Colocation data centers also offer a great amount of bandwidth at a lower cost and you can use your service provider for additional services if or when your business is short-staffed on your IT team. What’s more, because you own your server racks and the machinery, you can upgrade your data center supplies at any time.
What are the downsides of colocation hosting?
The biggest downside of choosing colocation hosting is that you have less control. You’re not the owner of the data center. That means you’ll need to follow the regulations and rules set forth by the owner. The data center owner can also restrict access to your servers at certain times or on certain days.
Having less control over your hardware accessibility can make it harder for you to make changes when you want or need to. It can also potentially slow down your maintenance processes and upgrades.
Ultimately, colocation data centers offer some great benefits. But to take advantage of those benefits, you’ll also need to give up some control when it comes to accessibility.
If you’re in need of data center products and supplies such as dynamic server racks and thermal containment systems, AMCO Enclosures has the data center equipment you need. To learn more about our server racks and other products, contact AMCO Enclosures today.