Demand for colocation services continues to grow. As more companies seek the benefits of off-site data centers, consumption of colocation services is forecast to grow by more than 14% annually between now and 2030.
Gartner even goes so far as to say that 80% of enterprises will close down their traditional data centers by 2025. Rising costs for hosting, managing, and monitoring highly available, reliable, and secure data centers are driving this move. As companies continue implementing digital transformation and cloud costs continue to rise, enterprises are looking for more cost-efficient solutions.
Benefits of Colocation Services
Data center colocation services provide all of the benefits of an on-site data center but transfer the management of the infrastructure to a third-party provider. There are typically significant savings with colo centers because the cost of building and maintaining a redundant data center is amortized over multiple businesses.
Other benefits include:
- High availability, scalability, and bursting
- Redundant power and cooling to prevent downtime
- Remote hands support
- Secure environments
Businesses can get dedicated cabinets, cages, and private suite options for additional security, along with A/B diverse power feeds and flexible power configurations. They can also get direct connections to multiple cloud service providers (CSPs) and internet service providers (ISPs) for faster throughput and redundant connectivity.
8 Factors to Consider When Choosing Colocation Services
Choosing the right partner goes well beyond looking at colocation pricing. Here are eight key factors you need to take into consideration:
1. Space and Growth Plans
The facility should have enough space to match your current IT footprint and allow for expansion as your needs grow. Ask about how quickly available space is filling up and get estimates on future capacity.
Find out if the provider plans to build or acquire larger facilities to accommodate growth. You want to avoid outgrowing the space within a short time.
2. Location
Carefully evaluate the geographic location and potential risks of natural disasters like flooding, earthquakes, fires, or extreme weather events, which could impact the facility. Look for facilities that take extra precautions, such as fire suppression and raised flooring, in case of flooding.
Also, consider the proximity to your offices and how easy it is for staff to access the site if needed.
3. Security
Physical building security and restricted access are crucial. In colocation centers, your equipment is secure, but there may be multiple providers working in the building. Examine authentication methods like biometrics or secure coded entry, surveillance systems, and activity logging to track access.
4. Power
Check for redundant power supplies to ensure continuity even if one source is disrupted. Backup generators should be regularly tested and maintained. You also want diverse power distribution to racks in the facility in case of power disruption.
5. Cooling
Heat is the enemy of technology. You will want to make sure cooling is sufficient to match power density and that there are backup systems in place in case chillers fail.
6. Monitoring
The colocation services facility should have monitoring for smoke, moisture, temperature, and other environmental conditions that might impact performance. Colocation pricing may include network and performance monitoring as well.
7. Carrier Neutrality
You want the ability to choose your preferred carrier for connectivity and the ability to add redundant connections. Avoid providers that dictate specific carriers.
8. Uptime and Resilience
Look for a service level agreement (SLA) that provides for 100% uptime on power along with redundant infrastructure for the continuity of critical systems.
LOGIX Colocation Data Centers
LOGIX provides data center colocation service in Austin, Houston, Dallas, and Fort Worth with redundant, flexible connectivity solutions.
Colocation pricing includes robust business continuity and availability of critical applications through redundant infrastructure to keep your equipment running smoothly. Continuous power through backup generators, UPS systems, and automatic failover ensures your hardware stays powered on even when utility power is disrupted.
You get continuous access to your hosted servers and data, so your operations are not disrupted. With comprehensive security controlling access to equipment, along with redundant power and cooling, LOGIX data centers give you the safeguards needed to keep your vital systems and information accessible 24/7. The resilient infrastructure meets stringent requirements to ensure the availability of your mission-critical applications.
Key benefits include:
- 100% uptime SLA for power.
- Purpose-built environment for high-performance computing.
- Carrier-neutral connectivity options.
- Multiple disaster-recovery options between select data center colocation facilities.
- 24/7 Network Operations Center (NOC) monitoring.
- SSAE 18 audited and SOC compliant.
- Scalable as your business evolves.
- Texas-based support team.
Want to see the LOGIX colocation data center firsthand and discuss your options for colocation service? Call 281-688-6231 or contact us online to request a data center tour.