Pros and Cons of a Colocation Center. What is the Best Option for you?

To go with a data colocation or an internal data center may be a question many companies are facing. There can be multiple pros and cons for both. But what is the best fit for you?  As companies requirements grow, collocation and internal data centers needs become pretty crucial for the success of your company as far as data management is concerned. A popular argument when is comes to colocation is that it provides rental to retail customers when it comes to equipment space and bandwidth saving your company money.

Some facilities provide space, power, cooling and physical security for networking of other firms that connect to other telecommunications and service providers. Another argument for colocation is that it provides services for monthly fees rather than a large expenditure upfront because running your own facility can lead to unseen maintenance costs.

A con for having a colocation center over an internal center is that it may take a little longer for updates if your company is constantly updating their equipment depending on the location of your collocation provider, it could end up taking quite the commute for changes. An easy way for colocation to be defined is that you are turning your equipment over to an off-site facility. Some may not feel as comfortable with this idea and would prefer monitoring their equipment from their internal data center. Below I have listed some benefits for a colocation center vs. an internal data center:

Benefits of a Colocation Center:

• Savings on start up costs
• Maintaining proper environment conditions
• Security
• Maintenance
• Power supply

Benefits of an Internal Data Center:

• Convenience
• Gaining full control
• Use of current resources

When operating an internal data center, a company will set up and manage own data center including its servers, rack space, monitoring their own security, environmental control system and power supply instead of leasing rack space and equipment to their provider. So depending on your company you do have two options. Although with collocation you are being monitored and saving money in the long run.