How Is Colocation Facility Different From The Cloud?

With the demands for robust and powerful infrastructure growing amongst businesses, companies have started to depend on third parties to whom they can outsource their servers. When you sign up for contracts with data center providers you can enjoy many advantages. Whether it is the convenience associated with it or the security aspects, all these help businesses save both precious money and time. Out of the many options which one can find in the market today, colocation hosting and cloud hosting are the two most popular.

Are Colocation and Cloud Computing One and the Same?

Both colocation hosting and cloud hosting plans offer businesses easy data and server management advantages. So, they seem to be quite similar to each other. They are both outsourced services which have to be implemented through offsite hosting. But, in reality, there are quite a few important distinctions between colocation hosting and cloud hosting. Each has its unique capabilities and each is for different purposes.

What is the Difference Between a Colocation Facility and a Cloud facility?

When you consider colocation facility, it is clients which lease physical space from colocation facility providers for housing their servers. The colocation facility provider will not only offer rack space for your servers; it will also arrange for power supplies, HVAC systems, technical support services, security measures, network connectivity etc for your business. So, when businesses choose colocation, they basically outsource the storage and server maintenance tasks to a third party provider, but they retain ownership of these servers and equipments. In contrast, in cloud hosting, the providers will administer the servers in off-site locations. But here, providers will offer their equipments to their clients and they will also be completely responsible for system maintenance, security and upgrades. So, the cloud services provider delivers the equipments and systems as a service.

The main idea behind choosing colocation facility and cloud computing is basically the same. They both are convenient data-outsourcing solutions which can relieve the business of many administrative burdens. They can help you save costs too by taking care of ongoing maintenance of servers and operational costs. When you are satisfied with the existing hardware you can think of choosing colocation hosting plans. This solution is in particular very useful for companies that have made huge investments in storage equipment's. It is also a recommended solution for companies which lack sufficient power supplies or space needed to maintain such hardware on-site. Finally, many businesses even consider colocation hosting as backup systems for the purpose of preserving company resources and staff.

When you have made up your mind about colocation hosting, you need a provider that can give you a high degree of scalability. In short, you should have the freedom to get resources when you want them and to pay only for what you need. Colocation facility is the best alternative for companies which want to outsource their data management but are keen to be in control of the servers at the same time. Cloud hosting, on the other hand, is better for businesses lacking an existing infrastructure for data management. It is also ideal for companies that are not keen to invest in such data center infrastructure. It is also better for businesses which experience traffic fluctuations and need on-demand resources.

So, both the cloud and colocation hosting has its distinct advantages and shortcomings. The solutions are designed for meeting different requirements. Cloud facility services are like colocation services in that they offer cost-savings through shared infrastructure. But, with the cloud facility, you can get your IT teams to focus on more revenue-generating matters.

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