What Factors Drive the Cost of Colocation?

Enterprises across the globe opt for Colocation services in order to save much on capital construction costs and free themselves from the burden of operating a Data Center. However, the hidden costs of the Colocation service must be unraveled to reap its true benefits.

Much to the surprise of clients, the real cost involved in a Colocation service lies hidden in its supplemental charges and support costs. It is for this reason that experts recommend taking it slow with any Colocation provider.

Listed here are some common factors that can largely influence the cost of the service.

Setup change costs

Colocation tenants never remain the same. They engage new services, discontinue some and also alter a few existing resources. Some service providers charge an additional fee every time a change is incurred to the established setup. This comes in addition to monthly costs that arise from the new equipment and additional resources used. Clients must not hesitate to negotiate for few "free changes" as upgrading and downgrading of services is more than common in the Colocation environment.

Uptime assurance costs

There is no such thing called an infallible Colocation facility and clients must ensure that uptime negotiations are established well in advance. By promising the highest uptime possible, the Colocation provider is pushed to offer redundant power in the form of an additional diesel generator or independent utility feeds together with the A/B switching configuration. Some Data Centers also offer cooling sources and ensure that there is connectivity back-up. However, these elements come with a price and Colocation clients must be careful to ensure there are no last minute surprises.

Network setup costs

Most often, new tenants of Colocation in Chicago underestimate their network resource needs easily. While getting into a contract with a Colocation provider, there are two essential things that tenants must perform to keep network related costs under control. Firstly, all sources of additional fees such as firewalls, security monitoring, scanning, anti-spam features must be analyzed. This helps to negotiate further with the provider and establish bundled services at discounted rates. Secondly, it is well-known that network costs are based on the connectivity type as well as bandwidth. Clients must experiment to evaluate different combinations of the two connectivity sources such as the copper and optic cables along with IP addresses to derive maximum savings.

Backups and data protection costs

A solid backup plan with snapshots and other forms of data protection is mandatory for every enterprise. The cost of backup is generally never included in the basic Colocation plan and there are two ways to opt for it. Organizations can lease some additional space within the same Colocation facility or opt from the backup as a managed service. With much costs involved in the service, software and equipment, the former becomes a rather complex choice. The managed service that comes with a significant cost must fit into disaster recovery plan and compliance needs of the business. The managed service must be available in all Data Center facilities of the Colocation provider and notifications after the completion of backup cycles must be delivered to the client. These features help to achieve maximum cost efficiency.

With a little proactive planning, smart infrastructure decisions and a clear forethought, enterprises can keep the cost of Colocation in Chicago as low as possible.

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