Top Colocation Web Hosting Companies

What are the necessary steps needed to be taken when your business requires more resources than shared hosting provides? Should a small business look for managed hosting, or purchase its own web server to be housed in a professional data center as a colocation web hosting plan is?

Managed web hosting and colocation both offer a wide range of benefits. For both types the housing of the physical server is outsourced to a third party company, rather than operating the server on-site at the location of your own business.

Managed hosting vs colocation, which one is right for you? This article looks at the two types of hosting and compares their advantages and disadvantages.

Colocation

In layman’s terms, colocation is just raw connectivity of a server that you own at an off-site location. The professional data center gives you the electricity, internet connectivity, and physical server space so you don’t have to operate it at your own site.

The benefits of this are that you get the best in internet connectivity, and a secure facility where your server is safe from physical damage and theft.

When looking at actual data security, the wrong colocation plan could result in disaster. You are in full control of which software you download onto the server, including control panel, operating system, and firewall. And unless you have a colocation plan with some sort of managed web hosting services, you will need to assign someone to physically go to the facility to perform server maintenance.

Colocation may be the preferable choice for a business that has the resources and skilled staff who are available for round-the-clock maintenance, upkeep, security, and backup of the colocation server because it’s more affordable than managed web hosting.

Managed Hosting Services

There are four main benefits of a managed server:

1) You get the benefit of using the expert technical administrators who work for the hosting company. A managed dedicated server plan give you other benefits, including:

2) Security – Your managed hosting services plan may offer to install and upgrade firewall software which would otherwise be cost-prohibitive for a small business.

3) On-Site Monitors – Your web server, whether owned or leased, is monitored on site for potential problems with connectivity. When a problem arises, on-site technicians are there to keep your server running.

4) Reporting – Your managed hosting services plan can provide you with valuable reports on system performance.

To recap, managed web hosting enables a small business to easily operate its website on a single server without the stress, time, and cost of performing all these administrative duties. The biggest drawback with managed hosting is the inflated cost. You must carefully evaluate whether the cost savings of a colocation or a managed hosting plan offers you the most benefit for the buck.