What Is Colocation Hosting – Should Your Business Use It?

What Is Colocation?

Colocation (colo) hosting means you bring your own server hardware to a professional data centre and rent space, power, cooling, and internet connectivity. The hardware is yours — you purchase, own, and ultimately manage it. The data centre provides the professional infrastructure environment: generator backup power, industrial cooling, redundant internet, physical security, and 24/7 monitoring of the facility.

This is distinct from renting a managed cloud server where the hardware belongs to the provider. In colocation, you own the hardware and the provider owns the facility.

Who Is Colocation Right For?

Businesses that already own significant server hardware and want to move it from an office environment to a professional data centre. Businesses that require complete control over their hardware configuration (specific CPU models, custom RAID, specialised storage). Businesses with regulatory requirements that permit colocation but not shared infrastructure. Businesses whose data volumes and workloads are large enough to justify hardware ownership over renting capacity.

Colocation is not the right choice for businesses looking to avoid hardware management overhead — in colocation, you still manage the hardware. If you want professional management of the software and hardware, a managed cloud or dedicated server is more appropriate.

What Does Colocation Cost?

Colocation pricing is typically charged per rack unit (1U = 44.45mm of rack height) or per rack. In India, expect Rs. 3,000–8,000/month per 1U for a single server in a professional TIER-3 data centre, including power, cooling, and internet bandwidth. A full rack (42U) costs proportionally less per unit. The hardware cost is entirely separate and yours.

M A Global Network provides colocation hosting in TIER-3 data centre facilities. Contact our team to discuss your hardware requirements and get a colocation quote.