Keeping the bottom line minimal in a small business can become a major undertaking. Offering a range of services to clients with all the associated amenities takes a bit of thinking to make it fit the intended need within budget. Maintaining technology equipment and the personnel to run it properly can take a sizable bite out of a small business budget. Access to the Internet comes more important than which device. Where information on your business becomes stored does not have to locate on the premises. A convenient workstation can become all that is needed. A small business person may wish to consider colocation.
What is Colocation?
Colocation comes as a Web hosting choice made specifically for small businesses. Picking a grand service means a small company can offer clients similar services seen at large IT businesses. It works by letting a small business place its server (as in computer data) within another larger server known as a rack. Basically you rent space within someone else’s business rack of servers. Many options exist to create this business space needed. The space could include the software apps or portions of limited use of those apps. Or it could be a space that a small business develops their system within.
Advantages
The small business using server colocation hosting saves money since they do not need to install all the infrastructure. The monthly fee covers most of it in a convenient way. Also free colocation does exist in certain situations so ask about those guidelines. The entity rented from does the maintenance, provides the personnel, and does the updates to software. All backups, reboots, and hardware issues become the renter’s responsibility. Your small business only installs the infrastructure needed. The larger business makes money because they have all their computer space making money rather than sitting idle. As business needs change the bandwidth can widen or lessen within the system making it adaptable to ever changing market needs. If a business moves no worries about the data. The server location remains the same though the access points or device tying in may change.
What to Look For
Look for a site that gives 24/7 physical surveillance of the servers. Check that it has ample security measures. Make sure it has ample power provided, an IP address, and at least 100 Mbps bandwidth for your rack space. Compare its subscription price to similar services. Take a look at Vodiens Colocation centers who give premium service for a fair price.
Questions you should ask.
- What are the maintenance schedule hours and what is done with the data if it happens to come in during those time periods?
- Does it have redundant systems in place if something does happen so your data is protected?
- Does room monitoring cover such things as humidity and temperature which can devastate data as well?
Whether your company comes large or small the data has importance to running a smooth organization or serves as a springboard to better paths. Colocation offers an affordable path to do so.
+Katrina is a product specialist, solving issues for your computer server and power needs at racksolutions.com
