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One of the big reasons for colocation hosting is to take advantage of the many advanced security measures the third-party service providers offer. Because they collect a sizeable pool of income from their clients, colocation providers have invested top-of-the-line security hardware and technology for their system such as physical protection of the servers and other equipments, safety of data and applications, and their protection from natural disasters like floods, fires, power failures and the like.

In choosing your colocation provider, you can take a look at these protection measures in these following areas for comparison purposes.

Redundant power sources

Nowadays, accidents and other devastations regarding power and power sources are unpredictable and can wreak havoc in a data center. Utility companies used to be dependable, but today’s demand for power has grown so much faster than anybody can anticipate.

Today’s colocation service providers have already incorporated the installation of backup generators that run longer. One generator is no longer viable given the unpredictability of public power sources.

What is more, they also have redundant generators that back up the primary units. Multiple power source alternatives are already today’s industry standards.

Physical access colocation security

Another critical area that colocation providers offer their clients is on-site security. Actively monitoring and controlling access to the building is a critical factor.

Aside from the must-have physical security measures, colocation providers now include biometric access systems. These systems generally include fingerprint and retina scanning for verification of people’s identities.

So far, these modern sets of apparatus have been far more effective than the now-outdated key cards. (They were notorious for being easily stolen and duplicated.)

Other colocation providers have installed motion-activated surveillance cameras that can monitor activities outside and inside the facilities’ premises. These cameras have been versatile enough to cover even the grounds surrounding the buildings.

Network access security

Normally, colocation clients are responsible in ensuring that their server hardware is protected with security software. On the other hand, colocation providers must also protect their clients from threats triggered by outside agents as well as from within the network itself.

One example is the now-debarred practice of one client cross-connecting their servers with the other tenants. The main reason is simple reduction of costs.

However, it also introduced a tremendous risk in the sense that if one client is compromised, the attacker is able to access the system of the other clients who had cross-connected for cost savings.

Many colocation providers have now forbidden this practice and had taken severe measures to make sure cross-connecting is not feasible or will not happen in their facilities.

Risk sharing

In colocation setups nowadays, both the provider and their customers are expected to share the ongoing common concern for security.

Compromising security is the greatest threat within this partnership. After all, it shall mean a total loss for the customer (sensitive data) and the colocation partner (confidence) where nobody wins.

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Colocation backup and storage are two of the most important factors in the search and selection of a colocation facility. Mission-critical information that cannot be compromised needs to be stored and backed up in a very secure environment, whether it is in your own servers or in a colocation facility.

With the number of choices in the market, it can be a tough decision considering that it can be difficult accessing your storage and backup needs. Fortunately, these systems can be integrated with one another and can still work seamlessly.

To ensure you make the most suitable choice, it is best to first determine your system’s storage needs. Determining the solutions (and combination of solutions) that meet your requirements would come easier, especially in a colocation setup.

Fortunately again, there are three basic types of storage and backup solutions for your servers – DAS (direct access storage), NAS (network attached storage) and SAN (storage area network). Knowing them and what they can do by themselves and in tandem can help in making your decision.

Most of today’s businesses use DAS in the storage and backup system of their data. For comparison, DAS is basically similar to most external hard drives of personal computers where they can be attached at will.

This is one storage system that is best for smaller businesses which do not have demanding storage needs. The major downside, however, is that your system is slowed down while storing files and running your applications all at the same time.

This is simply caused by the fact that DAS solutions are limited in capacity and is not really that appropriate for large-scale storage needs. If your business is booming, it may serve as a temporary solution, not a permanent one.

NAS works by having additional capacity on your server while keeping it separate from your running applications. It is perfect for businesses that use networked computing.

The big selling point for NAS is enhanced productivity and cost efficiency. With NAS in place, your server can be managed centrally without affecting the other networked servers that run your applications.

Among the three, SAN is the more advanced data storage and backup system. It is best for larger businesses that require a system’s ability to transfer multiple files in more stable fiber connections.

However efficient it is (and becoming more popular), SAN is one solution that is relatively new. Moreover, it lacks the compatibility needed to make it more appealing to more customers.

As it is, SAN is greatly more complex and expensive compared to both DAS and NAS. Today, only the big companies who can afford it are using SAN as their main storage and backup system. The biggest reason is its ability to handle the high volume of traffic that is becoming the norm of the internet business at present.

Ultimately, the choice of your company’s storage and backup system depends largely on the size of your present needs and costs. In a colocation facility, your company’s continuing expansion can be supported with the right storage and backup system.

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Web hosting businesses (which may include yours) usually start small. However, as you grow, investments in hardware and others also grow by leaps and bounds. As online business trends go, colocation becomes a viable alternative.

Outsourcing one’s entire operations to an offsite data facility of another company takes one hard punch of decision-making. Of course, this kind of decision should not be done without the usual preparatory probes and questions.

Costs

As in everything else, the first consideration in any business transaction is costs or the prices of the services or goods. Nobody wants to overpay but the old adage of “you get what you pay for” still holds true.

In effect, your search in terms of costs should focus on quality instead of the “advantage” of a cheap price. The low investment outlay might be countered in poor service or some such aspects. It could result in expensive (from your company’s standpoint) downtimes cause by poor facilities or services from your colocation partner.

Support

With web hosting, support availability is critical in a colocation setup. This is one very important aspect in your choice of a colocation partner.

Most colocation companies offer support 24 hours a day everyday by way of phone and emails. Others offer help in live chat sessions and support tickets. However, there is a need for a fast turn-around time because problems can happen just as fast in trying to connect or set up the server.

Redundancy

In a business that deals with very critical data and information exchange, it is essential that the facilities must be redundant. This means that power, connectivity and cooling systems must have backups and extra sets for use during emergency situations.

The colocation facility must have power backups in case of power failure (extra generators and UPS units). It must have extra connectivity systems in case of hardware crashes. Ventilation and cooling systems must be backed up by another working system to take place in case of emergencies.

Guarantees

Is there some kind of a money back guarantee with your colocation provider? Because of competition, some companies offer several perks and other deal-sweeteners.

At the very least, there are those who offer a 30-day money back guarantee to prove their confidence in their product. This might lessen some of your frustrations once you are dissatisfied with their service and decide to change hosts.

Waiting time

The old saw “time is money” still holds true with colocation and more so because yours is in the web hosting business. Avoid any colocation host that requires you to wait for more than a week to get your server running.

If a company takes an inordinate time to get your company connected online, this same kind of service might be duplicated in those critical times when you need their support.

Your choice

There are factors to consider in deciding to go into colocation hosting, and these are all specific to your present situation. If your finances are limited, a dedicated server will do for the moment.

If you are sure of colocation hosting is best for your company, make sure you evaluate your prospective colocation providers as thoroughly as you can. The life of your company depends on it.

• HOW CHOOSE COLLOCATION
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Colocation had gathered some of the more off-the-wall myths In the small and medium-sized business circles. Probably because this type of web hosting service offers solutions in a totally different background, colocation is prone to misconceptions. These myths unfortunately can cloud perceptions and certainly affect decisions.

Unreliability

Most colocation centers have redundant Internet connections, power sources and backups. Usually, they run at minimal capacities (less than 80%) so that competition for bandwidth is done away with.

Also, colocation centers employ IT professionals to handle outages and other technical problems on-site.

Inconvenience

Convenience does not depend on the host you choose and where they keep their data. Today, your IT staff can remotely handle most equipment and configuration work.

It does help to have your staff and your equipments close to each other, but on extreme cases, your people can always go to your colocation site to upgrade equipment or software.

Still on the plus side, your colocation facility can provide more space and better equipment organization.

Uncertainty

Depending on your own security implementations, your colocation equipments are generally more secure in a colocation facility. Because it is their business, colocation companies equip their facilities with the latest in firewalls, IDS (Intrusion Detection System) and the assurance of a solid physical security (duly monitored cages).

This level of security and the wide array of security technologies may not be affordable for small businesses. Also, the staff of colocation facilities keeps your security patches up-to-date themselves.

There is a huge difference between a web-hosting deal and a colocation arrangement. In web hosting, your site’s programming code is located inside another business server which is owned by the web hosting company.

In a colocation environment, your company’s equipment and software is physically located in the colocation company’s data center. Your company’s site has its own server and support components.

Web hosting companies usually handle thousands of web site users which your company has to share. In short, your company located in a colocation facility does not compete for critical server resources, bandwidth, storage and CPU. Glitches in other web sites (that usually happens in a web hosting setup) do not affect your business site.

Limited support

Colocation services have all the support for their clients – physical and network security, data recovery, power systems, and more. These companies even offer customer service by way of emails and phone support and where IT professionals can be reached.

Managed service contracts are available to keep your company’s servers fine-tuned, including hardware and software upgrades. The support is only limited by your budget for these colocation services.

Some colocation services offer servers and other components but they can be flexible. This happens when all you rent in a colocation facility is space and connectivity where the servers and the software belong to your company.

This is where you control over what software runs on your company’s servers and how powerful those servers can be. On the other hand, the speed of servers and the available software to run them in a web-hosting arrangement are limited to what your host company can provide.

These are some of the more popular myths perpetrated by people who are less familiar about the nature of colocation and its advantages.

What exactly is collocation? To begin with, colocation is a Web hosting option specifically designed and structured for small businesses. Internet has altered the business landscape these days. Nowadays, companies need to take care of Information Technology aspects of their businesses. If you are running a small, home-based, or medium-sized enterprise, you surely are very much concerned about Web hosting. Other than that, you may be considering collocation. The service is particularly suited for minor firms that aim to enjoy features of huge IT departments, but without the adjoining and appropriate costs. Most huge corporations and businesses invest in major online infrastructures so they could be able to host their very own Web servers. They even employ numerous IT professionals who manage and at the same time design their online sites.

Small and independent running companies are usually not capable to do the same. That is because logically, such minor businesses need to take care of other operational costs. Their capital and resources are limited. However, for such small firms, there is currently a broad range of options from simple Web hosting to running Web servers from a dedicated online connection. One option for the latter is collocation. There are more than enough reasons why small businesses prefer to use colocation.

Colocation is allowing a small business to place its own server machine into another business’ rack. They may agree to share a single bandwidth. In general, colocation is costing more than the usual and standard Web hosting. However, it is less costly compared to the amount needed to buy and operate a bandwidth on your own.

Once a machine set up is oriented, it could be physically relocated to the site of the colocation provider. This way, it has to be installed into the rack of the bandwidth owner. Another option is to rent an online server machine from the bandwidth owner or colocation provider, which then gets the responsibility to provide an IP, power, and bandwidth into your business’ own server. When the system gets up and running, your business could easily and conveniently access it just like you could access a Website within the domains of a Web hosting provider.

This way, it could be easily inferred that colocation is an important process that small businesses should opt for. If a small firm is aiming to save on costs but could not afford not to own a bandwidth or server, colocation truly is a necessity. Small companies that need to run blogs or personal Websites do not need colocation. Instead, they could opt for Web hosting services. If a server is required because there is a need for more robust online operations than what Web hosting could provide, colocation is the best option to take.

One word of caution, though. It may be difficult to find and deal with colocation providers. A business operating in a community where there are other existing businesses may proceed to ask other larger companies if they are offering such services for small players. Do read on reviews for best companies that offer colocation and spend some time on hosting forums help too.

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