All You Need to Know About Colocation

Colocation

Published on: 24/04/2025

Read time: 2

Colocation (or colo) is when you rent space in a data center to house your own servers and IT hardware. Instead of running equipment in your office, you install it in a third-party facility that provides power, cooling, bandwidth, and physical security.

This setup gives you more control than the cloud—and more reliability than keeping servers in-house.

What Is Colocation?

Colocation means placing your servers in a carrier-neutral data center. You own the hardware, and the provider gives:

Rack space (in U or full cabinets)
Reliable power with backup systems
High-speed internet connectivity
Physical security and environmental controls
Remote hands support (optional)

Unlike cloud hosting, you manage the servers—hardware, software, and OS.

Who Uses Colocation?

Colocation is ideal for:

Enterprises needing full control over infrastructure
MSPs and hosting providers serving customers
CDNs, SaaS, and fintech platforms needing low latency
Startups moving out of the cloud for cost or performance

Benefits of Colocation

Here’s why businesses choose colocation over cloud or on-prem:

Redundancy – N+1 or 2N power, cooling, and network options
Scalability – Add racks or bandwidth as you grow
Cost control – Flat monthly fees vs unpredictable cloud costs
Better latency – Direct peering and premium connectivity
Security – 24/7 access control, monitoring, and locked cabinets
Carrier diversity – Choose from multiple network providers

Colocation vs Cloud Hosting

Feature	Colocation	Cloud Hosting
Hardware ownership	You own	Cloud provider owns
Control	Full access and control	Limited by platform
Cost structure	Predictable monthly fees	Pay-as-you-go, but hard to predict
Performance	Dedicated hardware, low latency	Shared infrastructure
Scalability	Physical scaling required	Rapid scaling possible

How Much Does Colocation Cost?

Pricing depends on:

Rack space – 1U, quarter rack, half rack, full rack
Power usage – Measured in amps or kilowatts (kW)
Bandwidth – Per Mbps or committed data rate
Location – Tier 1 cities like London or Frankfurt cost more
Add-ons – Remote hands, cross-connects, backup power

Example:
A half rack (21U) with 2kW power and 100 Mbps bandwidth might cost €600–€1200/month in a European data center.

What to Look for in a Colocation Provider

Uptime SLAs – 99.99% or better
Power density options – Can they support high kW per rack?
Carrier options – More ISPs = more flexibility
Security controls – Biometric access, cameras, mantraps
Remote hands availability – 24/7 tech support
Compliance – ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI-DSS

📞 Ready to Colo? We’ve Got You Covered.

Colocation gives you the control of on-prem with the uptime and network options of a premium data center. If you need performance, reliability, and predictable costs, colocation hosting is worth considering—especially as cloud costs keep rising.

Shift Hosting offers flexible colocation solutions in secure, network-rich data centers.
Email us at Sales@Shifthosting.com or visit https://shifthosting.com to request a quote.

Let’s build your infrastructure on a foundation you can trust.

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