In-house versus colocation?
With in-house infrastructure (compared to colocation) you’ll most likely need:
•
Physical space
o Rack
o Servers
o UPS
o Switch
o Router
o Diesel Fuel Generator
o Firewall Appliance
o Security Systems
o Demarcation
•
IT Staff
o Certified
o Trustworthy
o Reliable
o Elevated reimbursement plus benefits
o Available 24/7/365
•
Location
o Expandable connectivity available to your location (s).
•
Climate control o Sensor alarms for temperature, moisture, smoke, etc.
•
Physical security
o Locked server room with assigned access privileges
o Bio-Metric Hand Scan entrance
•
Network Monitoring o Hardware/Software investment
o Email Alerts
o IT staff on call 24/7/365
Colocation offers a very cost-effective means of housing a secure hosting environment. Physical space is freed in-house, plus capital asset expense is dramatically reduced.
In-house - Few businesses can afford dual diesel fuel backup generators and none have the ability to cross-connect to different vendors. Managing an IT staff layers substantial payroll expense and man-hours. Disaster recovery plans are typically DAT tape backups and are rarely compliant.
Climate controls depend over whether the cleaning lady left the door to your server room open. Often there is no door - simply open access to your most valued resource - your data. Companies who have lost data fail at an alarming rate.
Scalability is limited and monitoring is more often than not a user complaining he/she can’t get their email or surf the Internet or receive calls.
Colocation - offers
• BGP networks for maximum uptime and reliability
• Managed services
• Redundant power sources
o Power grids
o UPS
o Diesel fuel generators
• Cross-connects
• Physical security
• Electronic security
• Network monitoring
• Alarm sensors
o Temperature
o Moisture
o Smoke
o Fire
• Scalability
o Cabinet and rack space
o Bandwidth
o Managed services
Colocation services can be quickly deployed (no wait time to provision new circuits) and are easily expanded.
Why collocate?
Assign a dollar and weight value to each of the above (+ and -), then compare the results of in-house versus colocation. The numbers will jump off the page!
Businesses are migrating to colocation because it simply makes good ‘business sense.’
