Co-location of your IT infrastructure is the utilization of space ranging from suites, cages, or cabinets for servers and other computing hardware at a Managed Services Provider’s (MSP) data centre. The MSP provides the building, cooling, power, bandwidth, physical security and redundant systems, while the client provides the servers and storage.
Often companies turn to co-location services because they do not have the infrastructure or internal expertise to host their own systems. By utilizing the co-location services provided within an established data centre, businesses can reduce operating costs while improving their overall IT infrastructure.
Cost Savings
The cost of building the appropriate IT infrastructure from network bandwidth, to redundant systems, to up-to-date security is beyond the reach of many businesses leaving their systems vulnerable. The very nature of co-location is that IT infrastructure costs are shared by many organizations while maintaining their own IT hardware, giving them access to the best IT environment at a fraction of the cost.
IT Support
Co-location enables companies to benefit from access to a wide variety of expertise and onsite personnel for Rack & Stack and Hands & Eyes without having to hire additional resources to manage their systems. Data centres operate 7/24/365 ensuring that systems are continuously monitored, and issues are dealt with immediately. They also provide valuable insights into how best to expand an IT network as a business grows.
Data Centre Availability
Data centre infrastructure includes separate and fully redundant high-speed network connections to increase network reliability and performance. Purpose-built data centres are built to ensure 99.99% availability. They have multiple layers of redundancy at every level including physical, environmental and network specifications to keep your systems, network, applications, and data safe. From fire suppression systems, early warning detectors, cooling and humidification systems, and back-up diesel generators, these data centre systems help to minimize downtime.
Improved Security
Co-location in a purpose-built data centre provides the right physical and logical security systems to ensure systems, network, applications and data are secure. MSP’s utilizing best practices have both detection and preventative controls. Detection controls are designed to identify and react appropriately to any potential threat. In the event of an attack, a detection control will automatically signal the ‘preventative’ controls to address the threat. Preventative controls strengthen the network by automatically sensing potential threats and quarantining them before they enter the network. In addition, other preventative measures such as two-factor authentication ensure that only positively identified users are allowed access to your system, while unauthorized users are blocked from entering.
Co-location with the right MSP offers businesses the opportunity to host their IT infrastructure in a purpose-built data centre without prohibitive operating costs.
To find out more about Cover-All Managed IT Services and our Co-Location Services, call 1-833-268-3788 or visit our website at https://www.cover-all.ca/co-location-services/