Colocation Hosting Options
There are different options for colocation hosting of servers and
other phone or network service equipment. These options
include different physical space, power, Internet bandwidth, phone
services, plan term lengths, etc.
Colocation Hosting Phone Services for VOIP
If you are looking for colocation hosting for your
VOIP service equipment such as the voice gateway, etc, you will
also need to get phone service plans. Depending on your
service that you plan to offer you may need local phone service,
long distance minutes, DIDs, toll free 800 numbers or other specific
plan needs. All of these phone services can be delivered by a
variety of phone services that are available within a colocation
data center. When looking to select a data center to host your
VOIP services it is important to consider if the data center has a
large monthly fee for services, such as phone services, delivered
over a cross connect. Different data centers offer different
services and fees. For instance at Equinix there is a charge
of $250/month for each line cross connected within the facility to
your collocated equipment, while at Hurricane Electric colocation
facilities there is no monthly cross connect fee to bring in these
phone lines to your colocation hosting cabinet, rack or cage.
This can add a significant cost to our monthly fees if we don't
properly take it into consideration when setting up the facility.
Internet Bandwidth Plans
There are a variety of different Internet bandwidth plan to be had
out there within any colocation hosting facility. These can
range from 1 megabit through 10,000Mbps per Internet port. The
most common plans include 1Mbps, 5Mbps 10Mbps and 100Mbps, but there
are special plans that can range in 1Mbps or hundreds of megabit
increments. The cost for Internet bandwidth plans can vary
dramatically from provider to provider. Usually, the more
Internet bandwidth that you get, the less the cost per megabit of
Internet bandwidth. Bandwidth plans available in the
market seem to rise and fall based on demand and availability.
Colocation Hosting Power Plans
Considering your equipments power needs is one of the most important
things when looking at colocation hosting plan options. Often,
because the cost of premium power in a colocation data center is one
of the larger costs to consider, it is wise to look into this before
purchasing your equipment. Sometimes you can save a small
fortune in colocation fees just by ordering new equipment with a
more standard power type.
Today, most servers consume 60% more power than is needed because
the power supplies are able to handle a wide variety of voltages
that your servers motherboard does not need. When equipment is
purchased, if the power supply is properly matched to the voltage
needed for the motherboard, a server can use as much as 60% less
power yielding a significant colocation hosting cost savings.
Colocation Hosting Data Center Space Options
Data Centers offer a range of space options that ranges from secure,
individual locking cabinets, to racks in cages, and suites to meet a
variety of colocation customer needs. When considering your
space options it can be valuable to consider your future growth
plans within the facility. Some colocation hosting customers
seem to prefer cages because they want to have an easy method to
cross connect their racks without any walls between them.
Cages do present a certain value, but space growth options are very
different from cabinets. If a colocation hosting customer
wants to upgrade in a cage, they will either have to get the whole
cage and pay for all of the racks in the cage or share the cage with
other companies. The disadvantage of sharing a cage is that
someone could inadvertently trip on a network or power cable and
push a plug as they reach out to keep from falling over, etc.
The possibilities for a simple accident such as tripping causing an
Internet outage are too great within a shared cage. Thus for
security reasons you have to get the full cage, but once you get the
full cage the cost for all the extra racks grows significantly.
This is the very reason that most customers prefer secure locking
cabinets. Colocation hosting cabinets give them the easy
upgrade path to be able to add one more cabinet at a time and only
have to pay for the cabinets they need, while still maintaining
greater reliability and security that a secure locked cabinet
provides.
If a company's colocation hosting needs are lager enough, they
can get a full suite with 60, 90, or 300 cabinets all in their own
room. This is excellent option that companies such as
Hurricane Electric and Equinix offer for large networks, hosting
providers and other Telecoms.
There are a variety of other specialized colocation services that
many hosting companies offer. Please read on and enjoy the
articles that help with your colocation and knowledge needs.
Enjoy! |
