For their IT infrastructure location, medium-sized companies have the choice between their own data centre and leveraging the IT resources of external service providers. Medium-sized enterprises that feel a bit uneasy about using the public cloud often think twice about it and consider investing in a private cloud. There is, however, an alternative solution: collocation.
Collocation in a data centre allows companies to do without their own data centre and associated security measures, without handing over complete control of their infrastructure. In contrast to hosting, customers move into the data centre spaces and racks with their own hardware. The IaaS provider (Infrastructure as a Service) takes over the – as a rule: strong – network connection and usually also offers installation and maintenance services. Important criteria are the distance to your own location, the price of electricity in connection with the cooling system as well as security and availability arrangements. Online catalogues with a search function (by postal code, etc.) are available, for example, at heise.