Own server room or colocation? Comparison

As the company’s demand for IT resources grows, you have to face a choice about co-locating services or building your own server room to store data. What are the pros and cons of both solutions?

The amount of data being processed is increasing, and you need not only space, but also power and equipment cooling. You can use a third-party provider and move your data infrastructure to their data center, or build your own data center.

What is colocation
and server room?

Colocation (hoteling) is the rental of server space and the provision of infrastructure that is necessary for the operation of servers, namely:

• Power supply and equipment cooling,
• network connectivity,
• cabinet development,
• Physical intrusion protection,
• Fire safety features,
• 24/7 access to servers.

In the colocation service, the customer delivers only his equipment to the provider, so he doesn’t have to worry about everything else.

A server room (data center) means building a data center from scratch, i.e. everything mentioned above and buying your own equipment.

Advantages and disadvantages of collocation

• Cost savings (no need to incur the cost of building a server room),
• Predictable fee model (monthly),
• Network connectivity – a high level of service availability, included in the SLA with the provider,
• service security, which refers to the security of the building with servers, fire protection, proper entry and exit procedures, or the location of the data center (how far it is from busy streets, industrial zones, tracks, airports, etc.). The user should, of course, verify this information before signing a contract,
• Contact with experienced data center specialists. The customer is not left alone, for example, in technical issues. It has the option of choosing between managing the data center on its own or being supported by a specialist. This also saves costs,
• Guarantee of high standards of data center confirmed by ISO 27001 certificate, concerning security policy, data management, data access control, maintenance of IT systems. Another certification is ISO/IEC TS 22237, which is a standard in European Union countries.

Colocation is a bit more advanced than cloud services (IaaS, PaaS, CaaS and others), the customer incurs more investment costs than in cloud computing. This may be a disadvantage for some, but it depends on the needs of the individual enterprise.

Advantages and disadvantages of server rooms

• Full control over infrastructure, operating environment, physical access control, etc.

However, one must keep in mind that an investment in a server room is a sizable initial cost, i.e. it is worth bearing in mind the design and price of building a data center, adapting to current legal standards, security costs, buying and installing mechanical and electrical equipment, fees related to the power system, the cost of hiring employees and the cost of maintaining the building. All this can be estimated in the millions of zlotys.

Colocation or your own server room?

This question should be answered by the user after analyzing his own situation. Co-location is certainly more beneficial for SMEs, but also for larger companies that want to save economic and operational costs. In an era of increasingly cloud-based solutions, hoteling provides security and creates great opportunities for businesses to grow.

Co-location at ITH.EU

We are a provider of telecommunications services to startups, large and small businesses and all sorts of public institutions. Our offer includes services related to fiber Internet, cloud computing, telephony, hosting and network security. We encourage you to use the services of our specialists.