What Do Startups look for in a Colocation Provider?

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Decisions made by startups are crucial as they concern the technological infrastructure of the startup. Therefore, it is important for them to decide upon the right thing once and for all. According to the Sovereign Business Integration Group, one of the most important decisions that have to be taken by startups is ‘collocation versus the cloud’.  Whom should they choose? While sometimes one finds the cheap public cloud appealing, one might also think about how a highly protected data center colocation facility could also be great if it is in the same city you have your office in as well.

However, this is one of those decisions that must be made after carefully considering a lot of things. Though the cloud is a comparatively affordable solution that startups can opt for, many find colocation services more suitable for their particular needs. The resources that startups have are limited but since they have the urge to control and advance their infrastructure costs, they often turn towards the colocation services instead.

So, what exactly do startups want from the providers of colocation?

Their Scalability and Service Capabilities:

It is important for startups to write down the services they’ll require from the colocation vendor before contacting a provider. These services include: colocation environment, control for physical security, and also the potential to meet some particular compliance criteria as well. Therefore, listing all these factors down makes everything a lot easier! Once the list is compiled the stockholders will then compare this list with the capabilities of the service offered by the specific vendor. It is essential to examine the whole range of capabilities possessed by the provider. Though the needs of very startup may differ, it’s crucial to look for a provider who can offer you a large and versatile range of service capabilities. The next important factor to make sure of is the scalability. You might only need a few infrastructure resources in the beginning. But it is important for you to search for a colocation provider who has the ability to easily scale the environment as well as the needs of the company. As the business experiences growth the colocation platform should also grow as well. This way an impressive range of services will be made available to you.

Compliance and Security services:

You need to compare the compliance and security needs of your startup with the certifications that the provider has. There are a few startups that function inside industries that have some certain requirements related to dealing with digital data. Examining the compliance certifications of the provider and knowing about their security processes is crucial in order to protect the data and prevent any sort of damage to your business.

Critical Systems Uptime

Startups require a colocation provider that can provide them with continuous critical systems uptime along with security, scalability, and facility location. This is extremely important especially if the items being colocated are deemed as client-facing. This means that if an online customer portal is experiencing long periods of downtime then this won’t be good for both the consumers and the startup. That is why it is highly important that a high level of critical systems uptime is offered by the colocation provider.

Carefully choose the best data center location!

Gain information about data center locations that are available by the provider. Each startup utilizes these colocation services for numerous different reasons, therefore it is important for you to take into consideration the needs of the company when the data center location is being examined – opt for one that has the minimum risks.