The number one rule for big data is: Store it somewhere safe. We’re over a decade into a stable internet, and mid-level and enterprise organizations are finally joining the early adopters in joining the cloud. Both its cost and scalability make storing your digital architectures in remote data centers via the internet an attractive solution for all business sizes.
Colocation architecture is the latest trend in a secure IT framework. A “colo” data center can be either a private or shared off-site third-party hosting service where companies store, run and maintain hardware. Enterprise and mid-level companies are relocating their servers, firewalls, and other equipment to these off-site locations. Let’s look into what’s driving this trend and how it can benefit your business.
Benefits of Colocation
Colocating your data center off-site in a managed service arrangement has some obvious benefits. For example:
- Possible cost reductions — Some organizations have found their cloud utilization costs spiraling upward. ComputerWeekly says that scalability and ease of use have led to growing cloud costs. As organizational needs evolve, larger companies are reverting to private clouds or colocation as viable models. Colocation is the discounted loophole for data storage.
- Connectivity — Colocation providers offer private or public cloud connectivity solutions that link Google, AWS, or Azure or other cloud providers with their clients. Workloads can shift and flex, and colocation provides interconnectivity between tenants in the space, making more effective use of business partnerships. Colocation centers also typically offer more bandwidth than the typical office and redundant cooling systems to protect your equipment.
- Increased reliability and security — Establishing a private colocated cloud in a redundant architecture parallel to cloud use is a smart way to increase IT security and reliability. This ideal scenario allows technology managers to make quick use of a cloud spinoff or add on-site resources at the colocation center. It’s a secure strategy that limits and mitigates risk.
RightScale’s latest State of the Cloud Report states that 81% of companies have adopted a multi-cloud model, in which some of their services are hosted on-premises and others are off-site and others in the cloud. Hybrid arrangements are particularly attractive to large companies that are just dipping their toes into cloud models.
Disaster recovery is a particularly viable case for colocation, providing a secure off-site backup so that business operations can continue even in the face of a catastrophic event.
Colocation is perfect for improving the security of your IT architectures. Colocation facilities offer redundancy in equipment and uptime as well as physical security and 24 x 7 x 365 network monitoring. Converting to colocation is an innovative, cost-effective, secure, and scalable way to expand and improve business IT architecture.
Finding the Right Colocation Partner
Colocation is a growing market segment in the big data storage market. According to Research and Markets, colocation will grow to $62.3 billion by 2022. Selecting the right colocation partner is imperative not only for corporate data security but also for ease of use. Finding the right colocation partner should be based on a number of factors, including:
- Is the colocation architecture flexible enough to meet the growing needs of your company?
- Does the facility offer the right mix of technology and staffing resources?
- Is the facility located in the best physical location for your equipment?
- What security protocols are in place?
- What maintenance and support does it offer?
- What is the cost and contract arrangement?
- Can the data center scale with your needs?
Gartner suggests determining your use cases before having a conversation with colocation management to discuss your specific needs. Synoptek stands by to speak with you about our colocation services. Contact us today to start the conversation.