With computers and the Internet becoming more popular than ever at an exponential rate, tons of data are being moved to off-site data centers every day. Storing such digital information with on-site hard drives is inherently risky, and a bad idea for any business, including people that have anything private whatsoever to keep to themselves.
Today, businesses generally have two choices when it comes to moving data away from their on-site locations: trust a cloud storage service provider, or use their own equipment in an off-site location that they control themselves.
Colocation And Cloud Hosting Services Haven’t Always Been Popular
In the past, before cloud storage became popular, many businesses didn’t trust their pertinent, private information with anyone outside of their own, private facilities. Today, however, most businesses outsource their data storage and security needs at some point in time, if not from their very first day of business.
Whenever it came time to upgrade in previous years, businesses typically built new data centers, or heavily beefed up existing locations.
The Difference Between Cloud Storage And Data Center Colocation
When a business or individual allocates their data storage needs to a full-time, third-party facility from which information can be accessed through the World Wide Web, it’s considered cloud storage.
Conversely, when an independent agent owns a building but allows agents to store their own infrastructure, it’s considered to be data center colocation. With colocation, business entities are able to secure their equipment with passwords nobody knows but themselves, hardware that meets their particular specification, and an IT infrastructure layout that’s entirely customizable.
Colocation providers must maintain consistently available sources of power, steady connections to the Internet, make sure no criminals or animals can access their physical facilities, and so on. These responsibilities are usually quite simple, as compared to cloud storage service providers.
Cloud hosts must deal with all of the above responsibilities, plus actually purchasing computer hardware and professionals to maintenance them.
How Data Colocation Centers Keep Customers Interested
Storing one’s information on a cloud server is unarguably many times easier than keeping up with their own hardware through colocation. As such, data centers offering colocation services must provide customers with loads of additional features to keep them sufficiently interested.
These service providers typically invest in armed security to make sure criminals can’t easily break in. Closed circuit television with remote monitoring is also typically available.
Providers of colocation services almost always give their customers advice on how to set up their infrastructures, as they’re force to compete with cloud hosting providers that deal with such responsibilities for them. Colocation can definitely provide businesses with loads of benefits, although cloud storage is unarguably more convenient than colocation.
These centers typically bill customers based on a per-unit-used basis, rather than flat fees. Some systems use significantly more power, Internet bandwidth, and other levels of commodities than others, making colocations’ payment for utilities significantly more attractive to those entities that don’t take up lofty levels of resources.
The Big Question In Deciding Whether Colocation Or Cloud Is Better
If a business desires to own the hardware that makes its information technology infrastructure possible, colocation is likely the most fitting option. However, business entities that don’t want to be bogged down with the responsibilities of keeping up with physical hardware shouldn’t consider data center colocation.
Choosing Data Center Colocation Or Cloud Storage Solutions
Businesses that deal with information technology or have strong links to the industry are likely to lean towards colocation. Clouds aren’t always secure. However, it’s likely that the technicians keeping up with such data centers are extensively experienced in repairing and maintaining computers and their components.
Entities that don’t want to expend on long-term physical equipment should probably consider cloud storage, oftentimes popular in the world of business.
Hybrid systems, further, might be ideal for most businesses. In such systems, companies’ in-house infrastructure is typically secured through colocation, whereas customers’ portals are supported by cloud storage.
