Colocation is a very important thing to have for many businesses. It allows a business to outsource the infrastructure for its Internet business, extend its virtual reach, and focus on business. Colocation is especially important in today’s tough environment where saving money is nearly everyone’s priority.

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Benefits: 

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• Cheaper – Colocation is very cost effective and has higher bandwidth compared to a busine grade DSL.

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• Reliable – Colocation facilities have better protection against outages.  So, after a large storm, a back up generator may not have enough power to keep your server running.

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• No downtime – If you move, your server stays put. It will stay up and running the entire time.

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• Security – It’s their job to protect your baby. They store and maintain your server in a secure environment. Have you even seen one of these facilities? It is like the type of building you see in James Bond movies.

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• Service -  A colocation facility comes equipped with 24/7 operation and specialized expertise.

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Usually colocation facilities give you two options either to bring your own hardware and management experience. Or some facilities acquire the servers and allow you to select which managed services best suit their needs.

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You can find more facts about colocation hosting at www.myhostingreviews.com/colocation-hosting-facts.htm A major problem that many businesses have is finding a colocation facility. There are some great companies that provide this service; Rackspace, Carpathia Hosting andTerrmark are all very reputable companies. However, in this article I am going to lean toward the recommendation of Carpathia Hosting. I was just reading about a few benefits that they offer in response to customers needs for colo+, managed and optimization services. They created a “ColoConfigurator”, a tool for building hosting solutions.  They refer to this tool (which is free) as the Carpathia ColoConfigurator, or C3 for short. These tools make it easy for customers who are unsure of exactly what they need. It comes in two modes:  Expert or Wizard.  The C3 Expert is for those that already know their hosting requirements and the C3 Wizard is for those that need help building a custom hosting solution.

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The C3 Wizard will take you through a five-step process, which includes planning, inventory, logistics, build and verification/testing. Carpathia will then contact you to discuss the best practice that’s right for you.

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These are the benefits that make it easier than the rest;

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• Launch of methodology for on-boarding customers IT infrastructure to datacenters.  Five step process includes planning, inventory, logistics, build and verification/testing

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• Online wizard to help capture relevant information

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• Detailed proposal returned to customer within 2 business days including best practice for ensuring a safe migration to datacenter hosting

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• Discounted network, security and backup services offered for colocation customers.

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For more details, here is where I found this information… press release Before you choose a colocation facility it is important to do your research. It is important to check out their network architecture and the security levels they provide. An easy way to check up on a facility is through review sites such as, www.hostreview.com

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Colocation is a very important thing to have for many businesses. It allows a business to outsource the infrastructure for its Internet business, extend its virtual reach, and focus on business. Colocation is especially important in today’s tough environment where saving money is nearly everyone’s priority.