Colocation (Co-location, collocation) is placing an independent server on an established Internet backbone, which provides a constant high-speed connection from the Internet to the server. Colocation is the provision of space for a customer's telecommunications equipment on the service provider's premises. The space used by the company's server(s) is measured in Rack Units (or 'U'). This is the unit of measurement used for defining the vertical space used. A 'U' is equivalent to 1.75 inches (4.45cm). A full rack contains 40 to 42U.
Colocation is suited to businesses that:
need to have total control over every aspect of the server
have experienced IT staff, who will be able to evaluate, purchase and implement the hardware decisions
have the knowledge and the desire to do it by themselves
already have their own servers
require a large amount of bandwidth and storage
What are the benefits and disadvantages of colocation?
Benefits of colocation
Disadvantages of colocation
Monthly fee for colocation is significantly lower than what the same-range dedicated server would cost you
You must purchase all of the hardware unless you have an existing machine that will serve your needs
Greater flexibility
You have to have the knowledge and experience of the hardware and software running on your system
Ability to use existing hardware
Hardware may become outdated quickly
More control over web server administration
Web Server Administration is your responsibility
Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) and air conditioning, 24/7 security, fire suppression
You need Insurance
Colocation costs more initially (server purchase expenses), but in the long term it could work out cheaper. The more servers you have, the more cost effective it becomes.
You have to fix hardware problems yourself - or pay someone else to do that
You have the ability to offer dedicated servers to your clients
How much does colocation cost?
There are two costs associated with colocation:
Rental Fees - These are the costs associated with actually having your server located in the hosting company’s data centre.
Connection Fees - Instead of measuring the total number of gigabytes transferred per month, a connection average is usually used. So a 1 Mbps connection means that you can average 1 megabyte of transfer per second for the entire month.
What is OneStopClick?
We are a free-to-use technology intermediary, helping SME’s and corporate companies source the right colocation technology and vendors for their business.
Why use us?
We’ll save you time identifying and evaluating qualified colocation vendors and service providers.
What do I do?
Complete our colocation enquiry form, or call one of our Solution Advisers on 0870 382 5008. Within 4 business hours of your enquiry, we will introduce you to a short-list of vendors who meet your exact needs. For each colocation vendor you will receive a Fact Sheet, sharing with you our valuable market intelligence.
What does our service cost?
Our service is free for business users. The only thing we will ask you to do in exchange is to give us feedback on the colocation providers we introduce and the service you receive from us.
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0845 363 2205 We'll do it for you!
Benefits of our Service
One request, multiple proposals
Identify key providers
Free market intelligence
Saves you time & money
Free to business users
We spent several weeks evaluating data centres through the web. But without specific industry knowledge and experience of an 'expert', it's hard to select the right solution out of the myriad of possibilities you can find on the web... We approached OneStopClick, providing very specific requirements. OneStopClick provided the 'expert'.
