Guide to Data Center Colocation

Whether a small to medium sized business or an enterprise, the mission of the business is powered by mission-critical IT infrastructure. At each stage of a company lifecycle, or many times dynamically within each stage, the demands and business requirements of IT infrastructure change quickly and the organization must balance delivering the proper environment to support IT, with the return on investment that is coveted.

The seemingly insurmountable challenges of providing the optimal data center environment that will adapt and scale with IT infrastructure is achievable. An attractive option for many of those facing these challenges is colocation. Colocation is the physical facilities option for housing your IT infrastructure next to, or co-located with other organizations. It is the advantage of shared power, environmental and security infrastructure to protect your mission-critical IT.  The benefits of this option include improving the reliability and performance of your operating environment, and reducing or eliminating the costs involved with owning, operating and maintaining facilities yourself.

Due diligence performed in the context of your business and IT needs will cover a variety of questions that will demonstrate the benefits of colocation, determine if it is a good fit for your organization, and allow for a comparison of vendors.  Detailed questions that cover a provider's site features, security, environmental and power provisions, network abilities, staffing and business services will help identify the best solution to meet your needs.

A Colocation Buyer's Guide from Internap discusses the definition, drivers, ROI and key questions to ask when exploring  the colocation option.   For organizations of all sizes colocaiton is the right fit for a wide assortment of requirements. It is a key strategic business decision, worthy of careful consideration.

Download this guide to data center colocation.