Key Differences Between Co-Location And Hosting
Undoubtedly, migrating IT infrastructure to an alien space is a strong business trend with multiple benefits. As postulated by the 2016 Uptime Institute study, 20% of technological assets are already housed in external Data Centers; a figure exceeded to date.
However, there are preconceptions about it and skepticism. Why should technology equipment reside off-site? Among the factors that keep this figure in reduced growth, the lack of knowledge of what co-location is in essence –sometimes confused with hosting– outlines it as a relevant candidate.
Co-Location And Hosting – Important Differences
As similar as they seem, their greatest kinship lies in the fact that both are hosted on external sites; from that moment on, the differences are fundamental.
Traditional hosting services usually opt for convenience over specialization, which is why they choose the equipment and IT structure necessary for customer services and their maintenance and installation.
In contrast, co-location does not defer facilities responsibilities, and upfront equipment needs to be purchased. Although the sale of the equipment or the installation may or may not be carried out by the same provider, the security and maintenance are in their hands. In addition, these usually have 24/7 staff and free access for their user in case they require last-minute adjustments.
What are the benefits of the personalized approach to co-location? Here are three compelling reasons and business benefits of these services.
1. Control Over Equipment
For convenience, traditional hosting services preselect physical and virtual equipment based on stated needs. Even considering this, they usually have a limit in terms of their power.
Co-location allows you to go as high as the technology enables. All equipment is at the customer’s discretion, and while start-up costs are often higher, this represents a long-term investment that avoids long-term expenses.
2. Support For Dedicated Services
A significant disadvantage of traditional hosting is that it imposes certain restrictions on connectivity issues, such as virtual private networks, VoIP, or other vital additions to business productivity.
In the case of co-location, the provider usually responds quickly to this type of problem through its facilities, mainly since they are not limited by being affiliated with different telecommunication points.
3. Freedom Of Operations
Following the previous trends, it is to be expected that hosting imposes certain restrictions due to its massive nature: arbitrary costs, content restrictions or even a limit to the number of domains for your company.
Freedom and control are synonymous with co-location in this area. The technical limitations are directly tied to the budget you want to allocate to operations, and the available content is subject only to the laws.
Also Read: Cloud Data Management As An Alternative To Traditional Data Management
