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Cloud vs Colocation: And Why Not Both?

When it comes to cloud vs colocation services, choosing one over the other may not be the ideal solution for your business.
February 3, 2023
In today’s digital world, most businesses utilize the Internet to conduct several operations, whether it’s administrative work, sales endeavors, or development activities. Companies need robust and dependable IT infrastructures to host applications and systems and ensure long-term success. While many businesses choose between using cloud vs colocation services, it’s often not ideal to use just one for all your corporate information. Instead, you can utilize them together to maximize efficiency.

What are Cloud Services?

Cloud servers are virtual spaces that companies use to manage their data. To gain access to the cloud, you must work with a cloud provider. Once you form a partnership with the provider, you can create new applications or migrate applications and data from your physical servers to the platform.

There are three main types of clouds that businesses can use — public, private, and hybrid. The public cloud includes numerous servers that multiple organizations can access. Because large amounts of data often need to be transferred in the public cloud, egress fees often make it the most expensive deployment option.
Cloud Servers
Private clouds function like the public cloud, but the network only hosts your business information. As a result, private cloud can provide greater security and control over your workloads.

Another option is the hybrid cloud, which combines public and private clouds to enhance business processes. Organizations that utilize a combination of colocation and cloud services also take a hybrid approach to data and application management.

Why Choose the Cloud?

Cloud computing enables businesses with the agility to scale and innovate quickly. A company that uses physical servers may need to allocate substantial funds to make room for new data or applications, but one that uses a public or private cloud can buy more space from the provider whenever the need arises. This flexibility makes it easier for companies to expand their offerings and grow. Businesses will often achieve a faster time to market with the cloud because of this feature.

Most cloud providers only require organizations to pay for the services they use. This approach can enable greater cost flexibility for workloads that need to scale up and down quickly. Cloud providers also take over daily management tasks, allowing in-house IT teams to focus on more productive activities.

What are Colocation Services?

Colocation is a type of hosting. It involves placing your application and data in a physical facility. This facility is managed by an experienced staff who are responsible for the information of multiple organizations. Colocation data centers offer the state-of-the-art connectivity, cooling, energy, space, and security that is required for servers but may not have the capacity to handle onsite. If you plan to use colocation services, you must provide your own data management hardware. However, using your own equipment grants you with total control to use it according to your business needs.

Why Choose Colocation?

Colocation is ideal for organizations with established on-premises infrastructure or individual workloads in the cloud that have high egress fees or other high costs associated with them. Colocation services grant companies the same control over information that they would have in a private data center without forcing them to accrue additional expenses.
Cloud Technology
Compared to cloud services, colocation is a more secure option. Businesses that store sensitive information in co-located servers are more likely to avoid compliance issues with industry regulations. Additionally, legacy applications often cost more to run in the cloud unless rewritten. Adjusting these applications is typically impractical, making them better suited for colocation.

Colocation can enable greater performance for workloads that benefit from delivery at the edge. By placing your workloads in a colocation data center that resides closer to your end-users, you can significantly reduce latency. Organizations also benefit from the skills provided by experienced colocation providers.

Like the public cloud, colocation providers take over daily management tasks, allowing in-house IT teams to focus on more productive activities. These companies also have extensive IT knowledge and can offer strategies for optimizing your workloads, improving business efficiency, and increasing security. By consistently having the right tactical and strategic resources in place, you can ensure your business operates smoothly.

Can Organizations Utilize Both Services?

While some businesses find using either cloud or colocation services beneficial, many prefer using both to optimize their workload placement strategy. In many cases, the advantages of the cloud balance out the setbacks of colocation and vice versa. For example, cloud servers provide greater flexibility with data storage, while colocation offers greater security for vital information.

A hybrid or multi-cloud approach enables companies to work with sensitive content in a private server and scale-up in the public cloud while simultaneously saving costs on in-house data management. Ultimately, there is no reason other than budget restraints to consider cloud vs colocation. At Evocative, we recommend assessing each individual workload from a time-to-market, cost, performance, and data security perspective to maximize efficiency.

How Evocative Can Help?

Whether your company chooses cloud, colocation, or both services, you need a reliable provider to help you manage your data and applications. At Evocative, we offer a full suite of colocation, cloud, bare metal, and interconnection services to assist with your IT needs.

Evocative's Enterprise Private Cloud provides organizations with a public cloud experience, but with the security and control of a private cloud. Our bare metal services connect and offer various hosting, power, networking, and storage options. Additionally, our CloudHop™ capabilities provide on-ramp services to companies requiring a high bandwidth and direct connection to a public cloud. 

For colocation, Evocative provides customized cabinets, cages and suites that serve the unique needs of your company. Our experienced team can even help you rack and install your servers if you prefer to use your own equipment. We also supply cross connections through CloudHop™ and IP Transit services. Businesses that partner with us also enjoy easy access to advisory guidance and implementation and training specialists for assistance.

Enhance Your Business with Evocative

With over 7,000 international clients and 68,000 servers under management, Evocative is a leading global provider for cloud-to-edge computing and technology solutions.

Reach out today to learn more about our cloud and colocation services.
Evocative Data Centers

The Evocative Team

Evocative is a global leader in Internet infrastructure, providing enterprise-class data center, network, and bare metal solutions that enable exceptional digital experiences. Evocative’s global footprint includes interconnected data centers and Points of Presence across strategically located metros in North America, Europe, and Asia regions. Through organic growth and strategic acquisition, the company continues to expand its presence to power enterprise workloads at the edge. Evocative is dedicated to helping drive digital businesses forward, now and in the decades to come.

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