Data Center Co-Location Market Continues to Expand

New research points to an ever expanding data center co-location market as many more companies, especially mid-size firms are opting to house their services and devices within a professionally managed data center. Trends are demonstrating that co-location managed service providers are making it easier for companies to make the move by offering new solutions that can protect important data and improve the overall reliability of services.

Growth on the rise

In research from more than a thousand data center operators, the numbers seem to bear that out. According to the independent analysis, the global co-location industry exceeded more than $25 billion in 2014 proving that companies are now more willing than ever to outsource their infrastructure to managed service providers in efforts to operate with greater efficiency

The trend benefits co-location firms as more IT pros look for ways to lower power and cooling costs by making the move to all-encompassing data centers that can provide those service solutions. Moreover, the emerging need for cloud computing services has spurred growth as co-location companies help to meet the growing business demands in cloud services and space.

Co-location efficiency

Most midsize companies depend on their in-house staff to support their IT systems and needs. That usually means that IT staffs are juggling a variety of tasks to do and issues to resolve from upgrades and security to the maintenance of existing and often older antiquated systems.

Combined with a lack of resources it’s no wonder that many IT departments are taxed with an array of challenges that can and will affect the company’s bottom line. By utilizing a data center co-location firm, especially as costs continue to be more competitive, companies can enjoy the benefits of additional support in key areas.

Managed service providers can also help companies with their initial requirements and offer the flexibility to scale when needed. They are also positioned to help firms with a complete 24-7 data center that can handle all monitoring, traffic and security.

But in order to create greater reliability and attract more customers, co-location companies will need to ensure they maintain an uninterruptible power supply, appropriate backup systems and an excellent uptime record. They will also need to provide advanced systems for power and cooling.

Those that can combine a range of advanced security software and systems will find some keen interest from many midsize firms needing security services but can’t fit them in their budgets. Moreover, co-location companies that can help clients with outsourcing IT support can prove their value by allowing expanding firms to focus on other opportunities than addressing a constant barrage of IT issues.

All told, the co-location market is strong and is getting stronger as managed service providers adapt to the increasing needs of many midsize companies looking for services and solutions to improve efficiency, latency, security and bandwidth.