Colocation and Interconnection Services

You might have heard the terms Colocation and Interconnection Services and not been quite sure what they are. Let me spend a few minutes explaining this.

Colocation is a facilities based service for businesses that want the flexibility and freedom of having their own data center environment without the added costs of building and managing their own facility. Some advantages to using a colocation facility are:

1. Price: you pay only for the space and services you need.
2. Control: You decide on your architecture and own your own hardware and software.
3. Reliability: You take advantage of the colocation providers’ early warning systems, redundancies, and diversification of communications providers.
4. Network Choice: Generally colocation facilities have multiple service providers giving you leverage when it comes to negotiating prices and planning for back up.
5. Flexibility: Another benefit of colocation is flexibility since you will be able to grow and upgrade your space and technology as your company grows.

Interconnection within a colocation facility allows one company to connect their network to another by running fiber or other media to a central point in a facility called a meet me room. This can be very beneficial. Since you are connecting inside the facility, there is no local loop charge, so costs are lower. Also, since there are often a lot of providers to choose from, you get good choice in providers. This can be very important if you have applications that have low latency or other specific requirements.

Companies often provide both interconnection and colocation services in the same facility. You will find colocation companies that have a single location to those with multiple locations throughout the US and throughout the world. Telx and CRG (News - Alert) West are examples of companies that provide colocation and interconnection services. IT

Rose Klimovich is Vice President Product Development at Telx (www.telx.com).

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