Having a collocated server is perfect for businesses who want to benefit from hosting a website but without forking out for expensive bandwidth. This is particularly useful for websites that are likely to become very successful and attract a large amount of traffic.
You benefit from lower charges by sharing bandwidth with the server provider. There is also another method which is available: renting a server. Some companies will allow you to rent space.
Providers offer a range of packages, suiting everyone from individuals, up to medium sized businesses. The customer is often given access to features which include: traffic graphing; traffic thresholds; traffic alerts; status updates; and high speed remote access.
Another benefit is a high quality level of support. Providers are often better equipped to sort out problems that can easily arise with servers. Colocation providers also have hi-tech solutions to dealing with power outages. Smaller firms often find a blip in supply can damage a service and its hardware – but a larger firm will have the technical back-up to maintain a constant level of service.
Choosing the right server for your needs can be a tricky minefield to navigate when starting out with little experience. In many industries where privacy and sizable storage is a necessity, for example internal government agencies, travel companies, the DVLA and other such organisations where security and accessibility are common factors, the need for a certain type of unshared servers is paramount.
A dedicated server is just that…dedicated to one company and one company only to store their website, sensitive data such as contact details and order forms, purchase history, designs or any such other data you wish to keep secure. Rented from a hosting company or in larger scale operations, stored within a company’s premises, the dedicated server, not shared with anyone else, is one of the most secure methods of storing data as there is often less possibility of password leakage or malpractice from other server users.
Available under different operating systems, dedicated servers can be tailored to meet your criteria and requirements, different operating systems such as vista, windows XP professional, Linux and other operating systems can be arranged. Many uses where dedicated servers are predominantly chosen are in gaming environments such as internet cafes and dedicated games rooms.
In the realms of servers and data storage centres, the collocation centre is a place where many different customers can store, locate and access their server, network and storage equipment or gear, interconnecting with a wide range of other network service providers and telecom methodologies, with the least cost and intrusion to a business.
Holding many benefits such as being highly cost effective and time saving; companies, organisations and businesses across the world are now experiencing the advantages of using collocation servers and centres to maintain and manage their data equipment and sources. You can usually find that the majority of internet exchange points will offer server collocation as the trend grows increasingly higher.
With the ability to use a shared data storage area or centre infrastructure, great time and money savings are increasingly possible, along with the certainty for businesses to reduce other online running costs such as traffic back haul costs and free up valuable internal networks to use for other purposes, without having to consider costly upgrades and internal network expansions. Important for all businesses, collocation centres present a viable solution for a range of businesses looking to reduce storage and network costs.
Security is a major benefit of hosting a server with a colocation provider. Small businesses may often have sensitive data that needs to be protected. Sometimes, having the hardware to run a website with high traffic levels can cause its own security worries.
Thus a colocation provider strives to offer services which do not just allow for online security, but for security in the real world too. Larger providers will usually have 24 hour guards or a protection service. This will mean that you do not need to keep the expensive hardware in your office – and worry about whether it will make your office a high level target at night.
The security aspect also covers fire safety. Providers will have state of the art monitoring equipment to make sure that the server does not get wiped out in a blaze. This is one of the bigger concerns for firms who run their own equipment. The problem does not just stop there – having the security risk of your own hardware also can have the effect of wracking up your insurance costs for your office.
