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Reductions in operational expenditure and the ability to focus your IT team on your core business, means that data centres offer organisations the ability to maximise the potential within their businesses. Do businesses have a team where people are available 24/7/365 to reboot the server or air conditioning when it fails at 3am? Colocation companies specialise in data centre and network services, so they don't have to.

For financial directors and IT directors, colocation provides the perfect win-win scenario, providing cost savings and delivering state-of-the-art infrastructure. When you compare the capabilities of a standard comms or server room versus a colocation solution an assessment of the power alone demonstrates the gap between an in-house solution versus utilising the expertise of a specialist.

POWER STRUGGLE
Whilst many in-house server rooms have access to power and may well have air conditioning and battery backups, this system does not fully protect an organisation's infrastructure. Organisations need to consider whether their power solution, as well as the raw cost, also include diverse power feeds and distribution paths, with dual generator systems that can be refuelled whilst in operation - as well as onsite fuel reserves? Do they have diverse cooling systems, with UPS support in place? Who is monitoring their power and battery levels 24/7? Do they have a 100% uptime solution?

For an IT director, moving from an in-house solution to a data centre is like providing a go-kart driver with an F1 vehicle. When it comes to connectivity, colocation means a business is connected globally, quickly and securely. We find that many companies with onsite server rooms often do not have onsite access to a fast uncontended resilient internet connection with dedicated personnel monitoring traffic flow to ensure that you always remain on.

In fact colocation enables organisations to benefit from faster networking and resilient connectivity at a fairly low price - as delivering 100 mbps of bandwidth might be hard at an office location and trying to create a redundant solution is often financially unviable. Data centres are connected to multiple transit providers and also have large bandwidth pipes meaning that businesses often benefit from a better service for less cost.

With these considerations in mind, some organisations start to look to cloud solutions rather than colocation in the first instance. Cloud does not provide organisations with a fully auditable system and the ability to have full control over their own infrastructure. Colocation often enables businesses to avoid spending money on storage bills in the cloud as it is often cheaper to store information on their own servers.

HIDDEN COSTS
From the periodic necessary replacement of UPS batteries, to the maintenance and testing of UPS systems, cooling and chiller solutions, generator and fire suppression systems, to pest control, the hidden costs of sustaining your infrastructure to optimal levels can be surprising. Indeed as part of a standard colocation solution, organisations instantly benefit from high level security with ISO 27001 accredited processes, onsite security teams and infrastructure.

Additionally, data centres have the time, resource and impetus to continually invest and research in green technologies, meaning that not only can businesses reduce their own carbon footprints at their own office locations, they are also benefitting from continual efficiency saving research. Companies who move their servers from in-house server rooms typically save 90% on their own carbon emissions.

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