Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Shared Rack Space Co-Location Versus Dedi Servers Hosting

By Rory Greer


Businesses are constantly looking for new and cost effective ways of carrying out their operations. Costs play an important role in determining the level of profit. To be successful in business today every business must have online presence. At the onset a shared server will be sufficient though there will be need to increase capacity as traffic to the website increases. Setting up own hosting is not a viable option for majority of businesses. The two realistic options here are either dedicated servers or server collocation. Your choice of either one of these services, dedicated or colocation will be guided by the pros and cons of each and the way the relate to your business plans for now and in the future.

Renting a dedicated server is an easy and straight forward affair. You will be getting a package of complete solutions from your chosen service provider. There is also an option to sign up for dedicated managed hosting which means everything including the administration of your server is done by the service provider. These options will work very well for businesses that have lower technical capabilities as well as minimal security requirements. Dedicated server fees over a period of years can easily accumulate to very significant amounts and this option should be considered only as a short term solution. The only significant advantage that this option will have over server colo is the lower initial investment that is required.

Colocation services involve the buying of a server by the client and sending it to the data center where they provide uninterrupted power, reliable high speed internet connection, rack space and security. The initial investment for this option is bound to be higher than that of taking up dedicated servers but there are a number of reasons as to why it is preferred by businesses. Acquiring equipment that needs you exact technical requirements will be your first advantage. Your desired specs will have to be compromised when renting a server from service providers for dedicated hosting. Colocation does not have such issues since you acquire the server you want. There is also the advantage of easily moving your hosting. Incase of breach of contract or the service provider is unable to deliver for whichever reasons, you will be able to quickly relocate your serer since it is your property.

Those operating several servers will find that collocation can be significantly cheaper as compared to renting dedicated servers. Increasing the hardware capacity of your equipment is easier since you own the hardware. Those dealing with sensitive information will normally prefer this option even though it may demand greater technical abilities. There is a danger of compromised security when third parties are used to conduct server administration.

The major factors that influence your choice of service are budget as well as you business plans. It must however be pointed out that collocation services come with greater long term benefits.




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