The colocation market is a thriving environment, and shows great potential for growth.
The colocation market is a thriving environment, and shows great potential for growth. Researchers have anticipated that the colocation market will go from the $31.52 billion recorded in 2017 to $62.30 billion in 2022.
Let’s take a look at what colocation is and how it will shape the future in which we do business.
Colocation (colo) is the practice of renting space for your servers (computers, typically larger and more powerful than the household variety) and other computing hardware at a third-party data center facility. Needless to say, your data center provider and the colocation services they offers should be up-to-date with the fast evolving market. Adding to what is mentioned above, your colocation provider should offer Managed Colocation services, among other services. These services include the building in which everything is housed (data center facility), as well as networking, physical security, redundant power and redundant cooling components, which then support your servers and storage.
So, why would you house your servers in somebody else’s facility? There are many benefits to colocation. First of all, by relocating your servers closer to your target market, the latency (reaction time) at which you can respond to customer demands is greatly increased. You are also able to process information faster and get direct response from your customers. Second, by housing your servers into your provider’s facility, you’ll effectively be saving space in your own facility. Thirdly, by using your provider’s Managed Colocation services, you’ll also save the hassle of hiring IT specialists of your own. If you do have an IT team, then you’ll free up their schedule to attend to other more pressing matters. It’s a win-win situation!
If you’re new to the colocation world, choosing a provider can be a daunting task. Pick a provider with years of experience and professionalism. Your provider should own a state-of-the-art facility, offer Managed Colocation services, and (more importantly) should have the well being of your business in mind. Now that we know what colocation is, we need to understand how it’s changing the future of technology.
There are 3 main factors that are pushing the growth spurt of colocation services:
- As it was mentioned before, colocation allows a business to be closer to its customers’ responses. This is called edge computing. Many companies benefit exponentially from edge computing because it allows them to analyze data at a much faster pace. This brings an insight on customer shopping trends, which then becomes an advantage over the competition that does not follow through with edge computing.
- The Internet of things (IoT) is a term that hints towards all objects that are now able to access the internet. The IoT is an inevitable tendency in which all things will eventually be dependent on internet connectivity. This tendency will also demand that information from servers reaches the customers in the fastest way possible, which can only be achieved by using colocation services near them.
- The final factor involves security measures around server information. Many business servers store sensitive information. This makes them a target for hackers around the world and an asset that requires constant monitoring. Colocation services are also making great efforts to stay one step ahead of hackers, and offer 24/7 monitoring of servers. This will in turn save costs by not having your own staff taking care of security.
All that being said, the demand for colocation data center services continues to grow among companies both large and small. The colocation providers that will succeed in attracting new clients will need to offer more complex services. Notice how many small businesses are now offering credit card payment through the web, virtual menus, hotel reservations through their apps. All these services require colocation models, and add variety and commodity to your customer’s experience.
In recent surveys addressed to small and large businesses, 65% of them stated that they use colocation services in one way or another… and will continue to do so in the future. The ones that are not using them stated that they are very interested in hiring colocation services of their own. Because of this, the colocation market is anticipated to grow to $62.30 billion in 2022.
Lastly, data centers are in constant research and development of new colocation models that will adhere to every day business needs. Eventually, everyone will be using, and saving, with colocation services. So, why not start today with a trustworthy business partner like Whitelabel IT Solutions? We are more than ready to provide you with the latest in colocation solutions to meet even the most demanding requirements.
