Choosing a colocation provider is a big decision that can make a high impact on business. Above all users will be housing their servers in someone else's data center. Before making any decision numerous factors should be considered while choosing the colocation data center. This article will deeply discuss the important factors that users can take advantage of.

Location is the most significant factor considered when choosing a collocation data center due to following reasons.

• How far is the data center from the business or company location, In case of any advancement or maintenance in the servers how easily the concerned person from the company can get to the physical location? Thus cost factors are also linked with location factors.
• The location should be considered by taking into account how vulnerable the area is to natural disasters. Although the data center would have looked into these factors while building the facility however users must look at these factors to ensure the server is in the right place.
• The power factor on location to consider if there is a surplus of power available in the colocation facility.

Reliability is the most important factor among all when choosing a colocation facility. Reliability is referred to as uptime in data centers and a data center must provide uptime of at least 99.999% of the time.

Users must consider the factor of deployment and future plans with the provider.

• The timeline of infrastructure is up and running.
• Future plans of the collocation provider
• Service update plans for future 

 Although deployment plans can be hard to quantify in a precise document, however, users should make sure to clearly communicate about the deployment and future plans.

Colocation providers have high security but for the safe side, users must review the provider's security measurements. They must confirm if the provided measures are relevant and users must discuss suggestions for adding more security measures.

Each provider offers different types of services, users must review each and every provider’s service to enjoy maximum benefits. Nowadays collocation providers depend on the partners and vendors for the services. Most of the providers offer backups of power, redundant networking, and additional resources that can improve the flexibility of servers operating in a colocation facility. Some provide disaster recovery services to support customers rejuvenate disrupted environments. 

Business clients must review the provider’s service agreement and SLA and skim them with their legal, enterprise and IT teams to address the features they have promised to provide such as availability, response times, and scalability. Consult considerations with the provider to check if they are willing to arrange better terms. If not, then the colocation facility may not be suitable for the company.

Users must track the facility’s history while giving preference to one of them. Future plans and history make a significant impact on the decision. Users should always consider the following points:

• For how many years it has been around?
• Any record of disruption service?
• In future cases will it be 
•  Does it have a history of disruption-free service? 
• Is it likely to be acquired by a bigger facility?

Before making a choice, understand the available connectivity possibilities such as

Carrier-neutral factor, how big is the ecosystem? And if the clients are already connected to each other? These are the important factors to know about the facility’s interconnection ability.

Colocation providers provide rich features that s come in multiple forms. Each business client must evaluate the features holistically to find the right facility for the business needs. We have made an effort to gather some of the top factors to be considered while looking for a colocation provider so you don't have to do it. 

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