What Is Retail Colocation?

Jul
photo of retail colocation

Retail colocation refers to a service where businesses rent space, power, cooling, and network connectivity within a shared data center facility. It allows organizations to house their servers, networking equipment, and other IT infrastructure in a secure and professionally managed environment. Colocation providers typically offer flexible space options, robust security measures, redundant power and cooling systems, and high-speed connectivity. This enables businesses to leverage the advantages of a data center without the need to build and maintain their own facility, making it a cost-effective and scalable solution for their IT infrastructure needs. To learn more about this service, continue reading to hear from our colocation hosting business and Charlotte data centers. 

Retail vs. Wholesale Colocation

When it comes to colo data centers, there are generally two options for you to choose from: retail and wholesale. As mentioned above, retail colocation is the practice of leasing smaller portions of space and power within a data center facility. In this model, businesses, organizations, or individuals can rent a limited amount of rack space, cabinets, or even individual servers within a shared facility. On the other hand, wholesale colocation involves leasing larger amounts of space within a data center facility. Wholesale providers typically cater to larger organizations, cloud service providers, or enterprises that require a significant amount of power and space, while retail providers cater more to smaller businesses. 

What Are the Advantages of Using a Wholesale Colocation Data Center? 

It is no secret that colocation provides many benefits to businesses that choose to leverage it. Wholesale colocation like that provided by our Charlotte data centers has many advantages to businesses.

Some of the most common include the following:

  • Advanced infrastructure – Businesses that use wholesale colocation lease a significant portion of a data center facility exclusively for their own use. They have control over the entire infrastructure, including power, cooling, and network architecture.
  • Higher capacity – People who choose to go wholesale will enjoy greater scalability and the ability to accommodate larger deployments, such as full racks or even entire data halls.
  • Customization – Customers have more flexibility in designing the data center layout, including power distribution, cooling systems, and network architecture, based on their specific needs.
  • Savings – Wholesale colocation can offer cost savings due to economies of scale.

Wholesale Data Center vs. Colocation

Many who are looking for Charlotte data center services ask themselves, “What is the difference between data centers and colocation?”. Data centers are places that house IT infrastructure, while colocation is an outsourcing model where organizations lease space and power within a third-party data center facility. 

More About LightWave Networks

Lightwave Network is a business that is dedicated to providing retail colocation, data backup recovery, and network servers for small businesses, among many others. Being headquartered in Charlotte, we offer Charlotte colocation, network servers for small businesses, disaster data recovery, and other Charlotte data center services. Schedule an appointment with our business today to learn more about what makes us one of the top wholesale colocation providers. 

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