Choosing a Colocation Data Center in South Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach

How do you choose a colocation data center in South Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach? First you have to know what colocation – also called colo – is, of course. According to a colocation company which is itself based in South Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach, a collocation data center is what is known as a carrier hotel which provides network, server and storage facilities, as well as interconnection with other telecommunications service providers and network service providers in a simplified process and at lower cost. These are often provided by network access point facilities such as NAP of the Americas.

Colocation companies usually also provide broadband internet access, VoIP, internet network security, managed dedicated colocation hosting, dedicated virtual servers, private networks, data storage and data backup, among other services. They provide companies with the ability to allow load balancing, mirroring and growth which may be difficult to do when a company is using a server that is in-house. Providing such business applications accessed online through the internet with data and software stored on virtual servers in a remote location is also known as cloud computing.

If the clients do not have server equipment of their own, they can lease dedicated virtual servers for a year, renewable, from colocation companies. They may also choose to rent dedicated virtual servers on a monthly basis. This way, they can be flexible and can upsize or downsize the server capacity they are renting, as necessary. Leasing requires minimal cash outlay for setting up as opposed to making an expensive business server purchase.  

When leasing dedicated virtual servers, you can choose from unmanaged servers or managed servers. The advantage of leasing unmanaged servers is that the client has full control over all elements of the leased server functions. This includes the server’s operating system, its applications and all web content. On the other hand, it may be more convenient for a client to pay an additional service fee for professional technical assistance in server management.

With dedicated virtual servers clients can, in turn, offer dedicated hosting or managed hosting services since they do not share the server with other companies. They can host multiple websites, as well, and even sell such services. They can get enough disk space and power from their leased server and pass on the competitive pricing to their own clientele.

If the client has its own server equipment complete with the corresponding duly licensed software, it can house its servers in a reliable colocation data center facility. The advantage is that such facilities are state-of-the-art, with environment controls that are carrier class, redundant uninterrupted power supply, and an uptime guarantee of 99.9% founded on a Tier 1 Internet foundation. They also have round the clock maximum security protection. Colocation data centers lease rack space for the client’s servers and provide power, internet access and complementary services such as backup and storage, tape rotation, firewall protection and others. The range of services is flexible and scalable depending on the needs and budget of the client.

Clients who own their server equipment have the option of installing and maintaining their servers by themselves in the collocation data center whenever they need to, or sending all their equipment to the collocation data center to be installed and maintained professionally by technicians of the service provider.

Colocation data centers that offer the lowest prices but do not give an uptime guarantee for your server will not save you money. In fact, you will be putting your entire business at risk if you choose such false economizing options. Any downtime means loss of client trust in your company and you cannot afford this. In choosing a colocation data center in South Florida, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Palm Beach you should, therefore, choose one with the best uptime guarantee complemented by the finest software, the best operating system and expert technical support.