What Is Colocation
What Colocation Means for Your Servers
Colocation hosting is a service in which you own your servers and network equipment and place them in a provider's data center. The provider supplies the building, power, cooling, physical security and network connections, while the hardware stays yours.
Colocation outsources the facility, not the equipment. You keep control of what runs on the hardware, but you do not have to build or run the building that houses it. Your machines sit alongside those of other customers in the same building.
What the Provider Supplies and What You Manage
Colocation contracts usually cover the following, often priced separately:
- Space: a rack, cabinet or cage, often measured in rack units or fractions of a full rack.
- Power: an allocation of electricity, usually stated in kilowatts or as a circuit with a set capacity.
- Building services: cooling, backup power and maintenance of the facility.
- Connectivity: access to one or more networks, often through a direct cable or a shared network port.
- Physical security: access control, monitoring and staff on site.
You remain responsible for the hardware, its configuration, the software and security of your systems, backups, and replacing failed components. For hands-on tasks at the site, customers often use remote hands services.
A Practical Example: A Growing Software Company
A software company runs its servers in an office cupboard. Power cuts and an overheated room cause repeated problems, and staff spend time on maintenance instead of development. The company moves its servers into a colocation facility with backup power, cooling and controlled access, but keeps ownership of the hardware and the software on it.
It now pays for space, power and connectivity each month, and it still buys and replaces its own equipment. Staff spend less time on the building and more on the systems they run. The trade-off is reliance on the provider's location and on on-site staff or remote hands when hardware fails.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to buy my own servers for colocation?
Yes, in the usual sense. Colocation means you supply the hardware, although some providers offer hardware sourcing or leasing as an extra service. If you want the provider to own and maintain the machines, a rented server is a closer fit. The two options are compared in colocation vs dedicated server.
Is colocation more expensive than cloud hosting?
It depends on the workload. Colocation has upfront hardware costs and ongoing facility fees, which suits steady, predictable demand. Cloud services charge for what you use, which can suit demand that changes often. Compare total cost, including staff time, rather than the monthly invoice alone.