4 Reasons Why Many Businesses are Turning to Outsourced Data Center Providers
A lot has happened in the last few years – not the least of which is a worldwide pandemic that sent the number of remote workers skyrocketing. In the IT world, this resulted in the growing use of colocation centers, among other measures, to meet the rising digital demand.
According to a report by Omdia researchers, cloud and colocation service providers opened around 15 million square feet of data center space in 2020, with much of that growth attributed to the pandemic-fueled use of digital services.
But even before the pandemic shook up data needs, an increasing number of companies were opting to relocate their data center equipment and operations to offsite facilities like LightEdge’s 11 purpose-built data centers located across the U.S.
Known as colocation, this practice involves a business housing its privately owned IT infrastructure at a colocation facility, which is generally a large building where various organizations store data and connect to the internet. Modern colo providers have grown far beyond “ping, power and pipe,” though (meaning remote access, electricity and connectivity); they also (at least in LightEdge’s case) manage infrastructure operation and monitoring, network design, managed services and much more.
Colocation adoption is a growing trend and not one expected to slow down anytime soon. Allied Market Research estimates that the colocation market will exceed $200 billion by 2030, representing a projected compound annual growth rate of 15.7 percent globally from 2021 to 2030.
Why is this happening? What are the benefits of colocation?
The advantages are plentiful. A few of the major ones are:
Cost Savings – Several factors contribute to an outsourced data center’s cost efficiencies for customers. Commodities like power and network consumption are major factors in this equation. With power costs climbing steeply in some areas, colocation facilities have become more attractive since they allow the center’s energy costs to be spread over multiple users. Colocation also gives customers access to greater bandwidth at lower cost by benefiting from the center’s pooled resources.
In addition, top-of-the-line colo providers like LightEdge invest in infrastructure advancements that enhance energy efficiency, which helps to stabilize costs for everyone. This aids in mitigating rising power costs for customers by enabling LightEdge to use less power to provide services.
Enhanced Security – Colocation data centers, in general, offer a higher level of physical and cybersecurity than individual businesses. At LightEdge facilities, several layers of infrastructure security are in place to maintain operations in the event of a power outage. Redundancy is built in across all platforms, solutions, and employee responsibilities, making LightEdge an extremely reliable cyber partner. At the same time, LightEdge’s physical security measures, such as limited building entrance points, key-card access to private areas, 24/7 security staff, and multiple layers of locking doors ensure that systems are safe and only accessible to qualified personnel. Additionally, carefully monitored cooling systems make sure that proper temperatures are maintained for sensitive computer equipment.
High Quality, Accessible 24/7/365 Support – At quality data centers, customers enjoy greater access to support services. LightEdge’s flexible support capabilities are a well-known differentiator along with their personal touch and consultative approach to customer service. LightEdge’s provisioning team and support group are easily available to help customers with whatever needs may arise.
Part of this is due to appropriate staffing levels. While many data centers use on-call contractors for their maintenance needs, LightEdge keeps critical maintenance experts on staff —along with having on-call support on staff in case of an emergency. This means they can quickly respond if an issue arises. That’s a huge differentiator.
Knowledge Base – Customers also move to companies like LightEdge because of its industry knowledge and ability to understand customer challenges and meet them with clearly defined solutions. By colocating at a LightEdge data center, customers suddenly have ready access to a highly trained team of engineers, hardware specialists, software technicians, and other experts to help them quickly resolve any issues. Internal education sharing is common among technical staff, which benefits all involved. Using LightEdge’s certified experts, clients – regardless of size – receive assistance in confidently planning for growth while safely reacting to emergencies.
Click here if you’d like to learn more about colocating at a LightEdge facility.
