What You Should Know About Off-Site Colocation Hosting

February 26, 2014

Colocation refers to off-site data storage that’s typically found in an off-site data storage center. Many businesses can circumvent the loss of data by including a hosting solution in their businesses.

Data loss may consist of loss from fires, floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Companies who want a greater degree of security most often choose Off-Site hosting solutions. In general, it can help their customers access data storage space, servers, networks and also connect them to a variety of service providers. Here’s what you need to know:

What to Expect from Hosting Services

Most companies are seeking a solution to help you reduce capital and operational expenses. When you need to protect your mission-critical applications from disaster hosting, colocation hosting services are recommended. There are several things that differentiate colocation services providers. Your company simply has to decide which features work best for them.

A data center is very affordable for any small or medium-sized business to work with, the company can expand its IT capacity while keeping costs down. Managed hosting and IT services allow businesses to run more efficiently and on a smaller budget.

Building a high-end data center, which ensures reliability and security, can cost millions of dollars. Data centers are expensive because they require adequate fire protection and security to keep running 24/7 and meet all demands, which are placed on them. This is much too costly for most to build, so they instead opt to use a remote facility to manage and store servers.

What to Consider When Choosing Colocation

Facilities infrastructure is a major consideration. The floor should be raised at least 20 inches above the concrete floor, and the floor loading should be able to withstand 150 pounds per square feet. Loading docks and commercial-grade freight elevators should be able to withstand 20,000 pounds of capacity.

The staff should be highly trained and professional. They should also be able to perform maintenance tasks and troubleshoot. The staff should also act as on-site technical personnel and engage in migration planning.

Many companies boast that they provide reliable hosting and support, but very few can adequately explain exactly what that means. Most simply provide statistics about their network uptime but are unable to reference more tangible technical systems that will work to protect their customer’s data.

One of the most important aspects of hosting is security. Security is so important because the worst disasters that can befall a client’s data all pertain to a lapse in security. Data theft can be infinitely more catastrophic than data loss. Modern companies claiming to host data securely should be able to make solid claims about what tangibly protects their customers’ data.

Some can offer 7-point military-grade security. With appropriate biometric systems in place to filter physical access to critical systems and similar protocols, even a physical breach of the host’s server environment will not see a user’s data compromised in any fashion. While it is important that details like network uptime be maintained, it’s impossible to overstate how much more important true physical security can be.

It takes more than just security, however. Another critical element is supported. All the protection in the world doesn’t do any good if the data can’t be accessed by those that should be able to. A reliable host will provide reliable support for their services, offering around-the-clock access to live personnel who are ready and qualified to assist. Much like the previous example, a reliable network is no replacement for reliable personnel.

Many companies like to make claims about their efficiency and the degree of their reliability, but reliability is more than good uptime numbers. It means providing appropriate defense for the client’s assets and offering realtime assistance when they require it. Modern hosting and support are all about providing for the unthinkable, the emergent, and being agile in the solutions offered.

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