Data center colocation is a service provided by third-party data center providers, where organizations can rent space, power, and cooling for their servers, storage, and other critical IT infrastructure. Instead of managing their own data center, businesses "co-locate" their equipment in a shared facility. Colocation services typically offer various levels of space, ranging from single server racks to large suites, with the provider responsible for the facility infrastructure such as power, cooling, and security.
Key Features of Colocation Data Centers
- Space rental. Businesses rent physical space to house their IT equipment.
- Power and cooling. Colocation data centers provide the power supply and cooling systems.
- Security. Colocation data centers usually have high-security measures in place, such as surveillance cameras, biometric access controls, and on-site security staff.
- Network connectivity. Providers often offer a wide range of connectivity options, including internet and private network connections, ensuring high-speed data transfer.
- Scalability. Colocation services often allow businesses to scale their infrastructure needs, adding more servers or additional space as needed.
Top Benefits of Data Center Colocation
- World-class facilities. Organizations without facilities expertise can still rent state-of-the-art facilities with advanced cooling systems, redundant power, and robust security measures.
- Flexibility. Resources can easily be expanded or reduced according to changing needs.
- Low upfront costs. Direct oversight and access to infrastructure facilitates quicker detection and response to issues and vulnerabilities.
Top Challenges of Data Center Colocation
- Lack of visibility. Tenants have little control over their physical infrastructure and must rely on their provider to accurately execute work orders.
- Migration challenges. Moving equipment to a colocation data center requires meticulous planning, an accurate inventory, and the ability to track every change.
- Ongoing costs. Additional costs for power consumption, network bandwidth, remote hands services, and cross-connects can quickly add up.
Simplify Colocation Infrastructure Management with DCIM Software
Two major trends in data center colocation today are that colo vacancy rates are at or near record lows and rental rates are at all-time highs.
As colocation space becomes scarcer and more expensive, organizations are increasingly leveraging Data Center Infrastructure Management (DCIM) software to increase the utilization of their existing resources and save money.
DCIM software can help:
- Increase rack space and power utilization. Auto Power Budget automatically calculates an accurate power budget for each device make and model by using the actual measured load of the device running your applications in your environment. Customers report this helps them achieve up to 40% greater utilization of existing resources. What-if analysis allows you to simulate the impact of planned projects on rack space and power capacity before implementation, helping you determine whether existing capacity is sufficient or if additional resources are needed. The intelligent capacity search feature enables you to quickly find where you have available capacity for new deployments based on the model’s resource requirements. Dashboard charts provide at-a-glance insights into capacity and utilization such as Floor Space Remaining, Cabinet Space Remaining, Stranded Power Capacity Per Rack, and Available Space by Rack Unit Size. Additionally, automatically rendered cabinet elevation views enhance and simplify rack space planning.
- Consolidate servers. Ghost servers are servers in your data center environment that are physically running but not performing any useful function. DCIM software’s ghost server report can easily find your potential ghost servers so you can investigate and decommission them to free up cabinet space and power resources and reduce wasted energy.
- Forecast capacity utilization. Leverage space, power, and data/power ports usage trend charts in DCIM software to better understand your rate of resource consumption and forecast future capacity needs. A power capacity forecast chart makes it easy to identify how many days of available capacity remain until you will need to purchase more to simplify power planning.
- Maintain uptime. Set warning and critical thresholds on rack, inlet, and circuit breaker loads and three-phase balance and receive automatic alerts upon threshold violations to be the first to know of potential issues so you can address them before they cause bigger problems.
- Avoid overage charges. Monitor energy usage to avoid peak demand charges, accurately bill internal groups to drive energy efficient behavior, and validate energy bills against actual consumption to ensure their accuracy.
For real-world examples of colocation tenants getting significant results with DCIM software, see how Comcast got 40% more utilization out of their existing resources and Cisco consolidated 67% of their cages in one site to save $40,000 per month.
Want to see how Sunbird’s leading DCIM software can help you navigate low colo vacancy rates and high rental prices by getting more out of your existing resources? Get your free test drive now!