What makes a effective Colocation Strategy?

Why Organizations Need a Colocation Strategy

Business today is reliant upon IT infrastructure. If the technology fails, so does productivity. Organizations must develop long-term IT strategies to avoid technical disruptions and maintain operational efficiency.

Colocation services work for businesses of any size, even those that can afford to own and maintain their data centers. Building a private data center is typically not cost-effective, and the results often fall short of expectations. Increasingly, companies are turning to colocation facilities to host their IT infrastructure.

Furthermore, supporting artificial intelligence (AI) has become critical as AI plays a more prominent role in business and daily life. AI applications require network reliability and scalability to meet current and future data processing demands, often involving greater power and cooling capacities than traditional workloads. As AI adoption grows, colocation facilities will need to support this heightened demand for computing capacity.

Colocation services have evolved beyond providing space, power, cooling, and network connectivity. Today, they offer value-added services that improve business agility, performance, and flexibility—driving innovation and a competitive edge. However, every organization’s requirements and priorities differ, meaning no single colocation strategy fits all. A well-designed data center strategy ensures alignment between a colocation provider’s capabilities and an organization’s ability to:

• Optimize operability
• Support organizational growth and change
• Deliver powerful connectivity
• Ensure robust protections
• Minimize total cost of ownership (TCO)

Five Steps to Building an Effective Colocation Strategy

Creating an effective colocation strategy involves more than signing a contract and migrating equipment. Below are five steps to guide your organization in building and executing a successful colocation plan.

Step 1: Define Organizational Goals

Begin by understanding your organization’s current and future objectives, alongside the IT services required to achieve them. Assess factors like projected growth, budget, hardware requirements, connectivity needs, and business challenges. Ensure colocation aligns with these demands and secure leadership buy-in before moving forward.

Step 2: Choose the Right Data Center Location

The location of the colocation facility significantly impacts accessibility, latency, disaster recovery (DR), and costs.

• IT teams requiring frequent access should choose facilities near headquarters.
• Low-latency data delivery might necessitate proximity to end users.

A colocation provider with geographically diverse facilities can help organizations expand into new regions and strengthen disaster recovery efforts. Keep in mind that data centers in high-demand markets like Northern Virginia and Silicon Valley typically come with higher costs.

Step 3: Align Provider Capabilities with Needs

Not all colocation providers are the same. Evaluate providers’ offerings to ensure they meet your requirements for reliability, scalability, flexibility, security, compliance, and support.

When assessing providers, visit their facilities and interact with their teams to gauge their expertise, responsiveness, and facility management standards. Ensure they can meet your current and future needs.

Step 4: Design, Coordinate, and Execute the Solution

Designing a collocated environment requires careful planning. Evaluate existing equipment, identify opportunities for resource consolidation, and consider technology refreshes.

A successful migration plan should include:

• Logging and labeling hardware with its intended placement.
• Ensuring recent data backups and a robust DR plan.
• Scheduling moves during non-peak business hours to minimize disruptions.

Leverage the expertise of your colocation provider to assist with planning and execution.

Step 5: Manage the Relationship Long-Term

A colocation strategy doesn’t end after migration. Business priorities evolve, and your strategy should adapt accordingly. Maintain a strong relationship with your colocation provider to identify and implement new solutions that meet changing needs.

Choosing the Best Data Center for Colocation

While every organization’s needs vary, consider the following questions to determine the best colocation provider for your business:

1. Does the provider offer the necessary reliability?
2. Can the solution flex and scale with changing needs?
3. Are robust connectivity options available?
4. Does the provider offer multiple locations?
5. Is the solution cost-effective?
6. Does the provider act as a trusted partner?
7. Does the provider meet security and compliance requirements?

Why Centucom Advisors Are Key to Your Success

Designing and implementing a colocation strategy can be complex. Centucom’s advisors are here to guide you every step of the way. From understanding your goals and selecting the ideal provider to designing, migrating, and supporting your colocation environment, we deliver expertise to help you achieve long-term success. Partner with us to maximize the value of your IT infrastructure investments.