What is Colocation? and How Does it Work?

Having a business that can run entirely in the cloud is wonderful. Nonetheless, some companies must keep a portion of their IT infrastructure on-site. They can benefit from colocation hosting in a number of ways. Should you consider renting space for your IT infrastructure at an off-site data center facility? Continue reading below to learn more about colocation hosting and how it works.

What is colocation

Colocation is the practice of leasing server space and other equipment from another data center. Colocation service providers supply equipment, space, and bandwidth to various types of businesses, from massive multinationals to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) looking to reduce capital expenditures and travel costs. 

Certain advanced colocation facilities provide customers with a formidable combination of colocation and advanced connectivity services, providing a safe haven for data replication, data archive, data backup, network access, aggregation, and regeneration systems. 

In today's hyperconnected economy, when data center outages can cause a significant loss of business, colocation can offer a guaranteed, monitored service and help you maximize your productivity and profit.

What is a Data center colocation & Hosting?  

Colocation could require either relocating your principal IT infrastructure to a data center or maintaining backup systems at a remote location for disaster recovery purposes. Colocation refers to the process of moving systems to the cloud.

Colocation has a number of benefits, especially if your IT infrastructure is outdated or insufficient. It can also save you from having to locate room for your IT equipment while your business is expanding.

Colocation entails hosting your data in a third-party facility, which is also in charge of ensuring that your data is kept in the best possible conditions with regard to accessibility, connectivity, power, cooling, and security.

How Does Colocation Work  

Your business purchases its own server hardware and software when using colocation services. The hosting company takes care of the network, power, and housing requirements for upholding the exacting settings that contemporary servers demand. The physical server is not touched by colocation providers unless customers purchase direct management, often known as remote hands.

You are in charge of handling the technical parts of your server and setting it up and configuring it to fit the requirements of your firm (such as replacing an old server). Colocation users need to have a solid understanding of what they'll do with their servers, how they'll do it, and what hardware and software add-ons they'll need to achieve their hosting objectives. 

Because of this, the majority of colocation customers have transferred their existing IT infrastructure from their on-premise environment to the colocation provider's data center.

The company's server is accessible and managed through a console since servers must be accessed remotely.

Geographic freedom is provided by colocation, but with the assurance that in the event of an emergency, a knowledgeable crew will be on the scene to handle any physical problems at the data center. The main advantages are using a data center's power contracts and bandwidth capacity. Remote hands can be hired for an hourly price in an emergency.

Colocation offers enormous savings and risk reduction over having your server on-site if your server needs a lot of bandwidth and maximum uptime and your firm can handle the installation, maintenance, and software oversight internally.

Benefits of Colocation 

Businesses might benefit from colocation or the practice of renting space in a data center to house servers. Increased dependability and uptime are two important advantages. To ensure that servers remain online even in the case of a power loss or other disturbance, data centers are built with redundancy in mind. As a result, they have backup cooling systems, power sources, and network connections. This can be crucial for companies whose revenue creation substantially depends on their web presence. Colocation has the advantage of enhancing security. Data centers are often outfitted with physical security features like access control systems, video surveillance, and security personnel to prevent unwanted access. To defend against cyberattacks, many data centers also provide cutting-edge cybersecurity tools including firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and DDoS protection.

How to Choose the Best Colocation Provider 

Depending on how much room your server need, colocation hosts like server colocation Uk provide options. For more demanding applications, businesses can rent a complete cage for their collection of servers instead of just a shared cage for one server. Organizations might invest in their cabinet for applications needing an extra protection layer.

The unlikely possibility of having bad neighbors" who frequently require physical access to their server or overload their power circuit is decreased by this design. Also, nobody else will be near the server owned by your business, lowering the risk even further from its current minimal level.

Your data center is the first step in preventing downtime in colocation hosting. To establish the optimal atmosphere to safeguard your important data and equipment in an improbable emergency, we invested in our colocation data center. Before deciding on a colocation provider, enquire about the proactive maintenance and modernization of their data center. We advise asking about the following crucial aspects.

You May Also Like To Read: 7 Must Features Every Datacenter Should Have

To sum up

Colocation is a type of hosting that gives companies a safe place to keep their IT gear. Businesses can avoid the costs and difficulty of constructing and maintaining their own data center facilities by renting space in a colocation facility. The services that colocation providers provide to support your IT infrastructure include network connectivity, electricity and cooling, and physical security. Colocation is an all-around affordable and scalable alternative that can assist firms in raising the performance and dependability of their IT systems.

Connect with Server Colocation UK 

Server Colocation UK has been in the colocation business for more than two decades and places much less emphasis on the organizational IT needs of businesses. Our team of experts is available for consultation and assistance, and we take pride in being advocates for our customers and proponents of a better internet. Our costs are reasonable. Our network operates at lightning speeds. We wish to be your permanent hosting partner. Let us demonstrate how our safe colocation space and extensive experience may benefit your business. Order now or speak to an expert in chat.

Colocation FAQs

About Server Colocation UK

Our servers are located in our own data center which is located in Derby, United Kingdom.
The data center is fully owned and managed by Data center plus, giving us the flexibility to work with our customers requirements and provide unrivaled levels of support.

Our data center is located next to Mansfield Road, Derby, UK. We are very accessible.
Our address is: Suite 18, Parker House, Mansfield Road, Derby, DE21 4SZ

Tour of our data center facilities is reserved for customers who are looking for colocation services with Data center plus.
If you would like to visit the data center, we must receive at least 24 hours notice.
You will also require to bring a form of ID in the form of a passport or driving license. We cannot allow anyone into the data center failing these requirements.

If you would like to place an order please contact us directly.
You can contact our sales team directly on 0808 169 7866 or emailing info@servercolocation.uk.
If you are an existing customer, log in to the site and simply check out after selecting your new service and proceed to payment options. The details of your new service will be added to your account portal.
If you are placing an order that is an upgrade to your existing one, get in touch with your account manager or raise a support ticket at info@servercolocation.uk.

Support

If you are experiencing issues with your server, we recommend that the first you do is to raise a support ticket with our support team.
This can be done by sending an email to info@servercolocation.uk.
Alternatively, if the matter is time sensitive, feel free to give us a call on 0808 169 7866 and select the option for Support.
We have a 30 minute SLA response time to any ticket raised.

Remote hands cover requests made within office hours.
Our Remote Hands service covers assistance with the following items:
– Server reboots
– CDROM connect/disconnect
– Cable checks and moving network cables.
– Checking/relaying diagnostics information back to the customer.
If you require services outside of the above (for example, installation of software), we can provide this as part of our Additional Services, which is chargeable. Please contact your account manager or our helpdesk for further information.

Support for hardware failure is 24/7/365 on our Managed Servers.
Most failed hardware components can be replaced within 1 hour (during office hours and subject to parts being in stock.
Office Hours: 08:30 – 18:00

Emergency support work