When considering which type of data center will best fit your business, there are several things a business needs to consider. Do you want to manage the facility on-site? Is space an issue? Do you have the resources to maintain a data center 24/7/365? Managing a data center is a full-time job that your companies’ employees may not have time for. If your business is looking for an efficient and convenient way to manage its infrastructure, then a colocation data center might be the right fit for you!

What is a Colocation Data Center?

Colocation data centers or “carrier hotels” rent server space to businesses. The colocation service provides building space, security, power, cooling and bandwidth. When colocating, the only items the customer needs to provide are the physical servers and data storage.

Benefits:

  • Data center is off-site – It might not be feasible for small to medium-size businesses to build an in-house data center. With colocation, the facility is off-site, and you can save money on power, cooling and bandwidth.
  • Security – Staff at colocation facilities provide 24-hour, 365-day service. You can relax knowing that your systems are secure.
  • Scalability – If you have your own infrastructure on-site, it isn’t easy to grow the facility if your company needs more space. With colocation, you can easily scale your infrastructure based on your business’s needs.  

Drawbacks:

  • Servers are off-site – With the servers being off-site, employees will need to travel if physical work needs to be done to the servers.
  • Location – If the colocation location is not close to your office, this can increase travel costs and time for your employees to visit the site.
  • Higher start-up cost – When collocating, you’ll need to provide the servers and data storage. This can result in a higher up-front cost.

Are you interested in colocating?

Instead of investing time and money to build your own data center, rent space and have a team manage your data center for you! This can save you a lot of headaches. 165 Halsey Street offers a dedicated 1.2M sf data center/colocation/telecom carrier hotel with over 80 MW of power. If you’re wondering why to colocate, and in New Jersey specifically, check out our latest eBook!

Colocating allows businesses to focus on revenue instead of managing an on-site data center. It also still allows full control over your own server. Often, colocation is also a step towards migrating your data to the cloud. Finding the right colocation facility can be one of the best and smartest investments a company can make. Check out 165 Halsey for the next step in colocation.