Decisions about colocation services have traditionally been about keeping data accessible to those who need it. Enterprises need to know where to deploy their services and provide the necessary infrastructure to support applications. Colocation and hosting services provide a way to keep data close to key locations, reducing costs and facilitating easy access to data.
What’s complicating the decisions surrounding colocation is the advance of the Internet of Things (IoT), which refers to devices equipped with sensors for collecting and receiving data from control centers. The IoT is growing, creating ways for enterprises to improve data collection and optimize processes to promote efficiency and improve service to the end user.
While the IoT creates broad opportunities, it also creates complications when it comes to colocation. Colocation companies offer enterprises additional options for connectivity and provide physical space that is utilized by multiple service providers. When the IoT is involved, sensors may be producing data that needs to be accessed in real time, or they may be sending and receiving data that is housed in the cloud.
For instance, monitoring the pressure on oil tanks requires real-time access to data in a center physically close to the sensors, while collecting information about energy usage in a residential area may involve a cloud server. These two instances will require different colocation solutions because they have different data needs.
As the technology surrounding IoT ramps up, it seems expected and logical that there will be colocation services designed specifically for the high-volume data exchange that comes with employing a large number of sensors. These kinds of services could influence how decisions are made by enterprises related to which cloud provider they choose.
Enterprises may also have to consider how they architect their data strategy with diverse applications in mind. If a variety of high-value services are being accessed through multiple cloud providers, they may have to solve some complicated data access challenges in addition to addressing the security and connectivity questions that must be answered.
Through close-working partnerships with more than 100 technology service providers, Cloud Source is able to leverage its unique insights and extensive expertise to build customized telecommunications service packages for clients. Contact us to talk more about colocation and how the IoT is impacting decisions surrounding data access.