What are the biggest advantages to colocation?

SenseiSteve

SenseiSteve

HD Moderator
Staff member
Looking for the biggest advantages to colocating servers in a data center. I've listed two, but there are so many more.

1. Your fixed assets show on your balance sheet, indicating higher net worth (important to banks and potential customers).

2. If you’re using accrual accounting, you’ll be able to show profitability on your income statement by spreading expenses over a term of years (depreciation).

Your thoughts?
 
Colocating own server in most cases is cheaper than leasing in long-term. Also, you have more control on colocated equipment and depending on a contract can visit datacenter yourself to perform the maintenance whenever you wish without need to pay for remote hands.
 
The points you mentioned regarding balance sheet and income statement impacts are not typically considered among the biggest advantages of colocation for server placement. While there may be some financial implications, they are not the primary drivers for choosing colocation. one of the biggest advantages of colocating servers in a data center: Increased Reliability and Uptime, Enhanced Security, Cost-effectiveness, Scalability, Access to Advanced Infrastructure and Expertise

In conclusion, while financial considerations can be a part of the equation, the primary advantages of colocation lie in **improved reliability, enhanced security, cost reduction through shared infrastructure, increased scalability, and access to advanced resources and expertise.
 
Diwakar said:
The points you mentioned regarding balance sheet and income statement impacts are not typically considered among the biggest advantages of colocation for server placement. While there may be some financial implications, they are not the primary drivers for choosing colocation. one of the biggest advantages of colocating servers in a data center: Increased Reliability and Uptime, Enhanced Security, Cost-effectiveness, Scalability, Access to Advanced Infrastructure and Expertise

In conclusion, while financial considerations can be a part of the equation, the primary advantages of colocation lie in **improved reliability, enhanced security, cost reduction through shared infrastructure, increased scalability, and access to advanced resources and expertise.
Click to expand...
How does owning a server versus leasing a server in a data increase reliability and uptime? If you lease a server and there is a hardware issue, the provider is responsible for resolving that issue. With colocation, you either have to be close enough to the DC to travel there and fix it yourself, or hire hands-on support if the DC even offers that. Most data centers do not have spare parts for every type of server that clients collocate with them, and some do not even have storage capacities for their clients to house those.

In addition, how is the infrastructure different between leased and collocated servers?
 
As I know, colocation offers scalability, allowing businesses to easily expand their IT infrastructure as their needs grow. Instead of investing in new equipment and upgrading facilities, organizations can simply add or remove servers from their colocation space.
 
Colocation offers special advantages, including cost savings on powering, cooling, and data center maintenance, easy scalability to adapt to your business needs, top-notch security from the provider's expertise and facilities, reliable uptime with redundant power, cooling, and network connections, and even improved performance thanks to potential proximity to major internet exchanges.
 
In my opinion, the most important advantage of Co-Location is that you know the health of the hardware, and you know how reliable it is.
 
When renting equipment, the company is responsible for the performance of server equipment and resolves problem situations directly in its data center.
If you install your own equipment into a data center rack, you will be responsible for handling any problems associated with shutdowns of your equipment. This includes not only technical issues, but also potential legal problems and interactions with law enforcement.
In such situations, it is advisable to be near the data center or be prepared to quickly arrive there if you receive an invitation.
 
With colocation, you own the hardware, so you can upgrade as needed and you also only pay the price for the colocation - which is typically rack space, power, bandwidth, etc... You're not paying to rent a server which would typically be more expensive.

It's a high upfront payment for the server hardware itself, however, in the long run, it's definitely cheaper to collocate.
 
If we are talking about the difference between owning and leasing then owning is MUCH cheaper. I wouldn't be able to afford to lease a server. I can pay for a server in under a year with the clients I put on it. But I also build my own servers so I pay about half the normal cost.
 
SenseiSteve said:
Looking for the biggest advantages to colocating servers in a data center. I've listed two, but there are so many more.

1. Your fixed assets show on your balance sheet, indicating higher net worth (important to banks and potential customers).

2. If you’re using accrual accounting, you’ll be able to show profitability on your income statement by spreading expenses over a term of years (depreciation).

Your thoughts?
Click to expand...
You are fully in control of your infrastructure! That simple.
 
Security is another important fact, you don't need to spend your own money for the safeness of your equipment. Obviously you need to check with whom you collocate.
 
Hi..
Colocating servers offers improved security, scalability, and redundancy while reducing operational costs. It ensures better performance through high-speed connectivity and provides flexibility for future growth.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Saranya Subramaniam said:
Hi..
Colocating servers offers improved security, scalability, and redundancy while reducing operational costs. It ensures better performance through high-speed connectivity and provides flexibility for future growth.

Regards,
Saranya Subramaniam
Click to expand...
Are you sure you're not talking about renting a server? Co-location is where you OWN the equipment yourself. The ease of scalability and redundancy, while possible, it generally does not reduce operational cost.

I can get as fast, or faster connectivity on dedicated servers that I rent from a datacenter than if I have my own machine in a local datacenter that I must physically manage myself.
 
bigredseo said:
Are you sure you're not talking about renting a server? Co-location is where you OWN the equipment yourself. The ease of scalability and redundancy, while possible, it generally does not reduce operational cost.

I can get as fast, or faster connectivity on dedicated servers that I rent from a datacenter than if I have my own machine in a local datacenter that I must physically manage myself.
Click to expand...
It depends on the hardware configuration as to which route makes more sense and what resources you have available, both human and financial.
 
Every once in a while, when I'm using a crashcart that can only display in red, or a bi-lingual keyboard where the pipe (|) character gives me a tilde, I question colocating.

But giving up the control over how quickly repairs to hardware can be done, how servers are built, and how they are amortized is just too good to give up.

That said, sometimes dealing with the colocation facility is a huge pain.
 
adam12 said:
Every once in a while, when I'm using a crashcart that can only display in red, or a bi-lingual keyboard where the pipe (|) character gives me a tilde, I question colocating.
Click to expand...
I've seen some awful crash carts over the years - from a laptop in a dish tub, to a monitor on just a rolling office chair. We used to have a 1U keyboard & monitor that flipped up in a rack. Then just wire directly to the server with the issue (all our servers were 1U or 2U, so no bakers rack setups for me! KVM and remote works well, but not when hardware comes into play. Even getting onsite datacenter staff to hotswap a drive gave 50/50 results - and there's really nothing to that task!
 
I always contemplate just buying a 1U rackmount console but the price is absurd for what it is.

I saw on WHT a suggestion to use a USB powered portable display and that's something I can get behind! Might be something I do if I end up cursing at a crash cart again.
 
adam12 said:
I saw on WHT a suggestion to use a USB powered portable display and that's something I can get behind! Might be something I do if I end up cursing at a crash cart again.
Click to expand...
I have something similar to this and I can't recommend it enough. It gets thrown into my rugsack and travels around with me. Some of those shared crash carts are :sick:.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Supporters

Back
Top