Your business has grown, and you’ve been hoarding every bit of data you can get on the off chance that it will help you in the future. Now, you’re running out of space, and you’ve started looking for server options. In passing, you hear a new term, “server colocation,” and it sounds exciting!
Just one problem, what is server colocation, and how much space do you need to get started?
Before we hop into the definition, ask yourself, will you be contracting with a cloud server company, or will you be building a server in your office? If you said “in my office,” then congratulations! You’ve come to the right article.
What is colocation?
At its very base level, colocation refers to renting space for server equipment in a data centre with other businesses.
More technically speaking, you need to make sure that you have room for all of your business’ essential technical needs and then some. That means the right amount of space to deploy your systems both now and to cover immediate-term growth.
So, let’s go over how much space you’ll need for every common type of organisational deployment, so you can plan correctly for your own colocation projects.
For the smaller company, Per Unit Colocaton
When a business is just starting to invest in colocation space, or if they’re smaller and don’t need that much physical capacity, they will usually buy space by the U (or Unit).
So, what’s a Unit? One “Unit” of racked colocation space is approximately 1.75″ tall. Servers and related equipment are designed to accommodate rack units, by mounting into the rack on ears or rails. The smallest space denomination is 1U, or a single rack unit. This would accommodate one server or small network device.
Other common space allocations include 2U and 4U, which cater for larger servers, or small clusters of hardware.
Stepping up in the world? Go for a Quarter Rack
The next step up in the server colocation world is a quarter rack (typically 8-10 Units of useable rack space).
A quarter rack is for small to mid-sized businesses that need to deploy slightly larger systems, comprised of multiple hardware sets. This may include a firewall, a couple of switches and a small cluster of servers and/or storage arrays.
So, why is this called a “quarter rack?” Well, the typical server rack consists of 42 Units of space. A quarter rack has ~25% of the full rack segregated and lockable, dedicated to you alone as the sole tenant.
A quarter rack with Netwise starts from around £164 per month with the minimum 1 amp power allocation.
Bigger is better: consider a Half Rack
Half rack colocation is excellent for mid-sized businesses that’re seeing a lot of growth. Usually, a half rack contains around 20U of server space.
A half rack will cost you £299 per month with the minimum 2 amp power allocation. This gives you a greater degree of deployment flexibility when compared with a quarter rack, and also allows for more power-hungry systems to be deployed with ease.
The Big Kahuna: Full Rack Colocation
Full-rack colocation is the best for larger companies that have more substantial systems, which tend to throughput lots more data.
This solution is ideal for growth, giving an excellent platform from which to grow, and the greatest amount of available in-rack power. A full rack, with the minimum 4 amp power allocation, is £439 per month.
Full racks let you expand as you wish into a 42U enclosure, offering the most control over airflow, and best installation practices.
To get an enterprise-grade rack with locking cabinets at Netwise, we would advise you to call our customer support to talk about a custom solution.
What are your server colocation needs?
Whatever your needs, we’re the best colocation company for you! Finally, you can expand your business with peace of mind, knowing that you will not be running out of space anytime soon.
Not 100% sure what you need, or are you confused by anything in this article about server colocation space? You can feel free to give us a call at any time!