How Does a Wholesale Data Center Differ from Web Hosting?

A wholesale data center and a web hosting provider can be similar and completely different at the same time. It essentially comes down to what your business is hoping to achieve with a hosting or colocation solution. 

At the most basic level, when you think of web hosting, the first thing that probably comes to mind are hosting providers like GoDaddy or HostGator. However, on the other hand, when you think of data centers, you most likely think of massive facilities that provide IT infrastructure support to businesses. 

What is a Wholesale Data Center?  

Data centers at a wholesale level offer colocation styled outsourcing but with significantly more space than a typical colocation provider would offer. Further, wholesale colocation is offered on a commodity basis—which makes it cheaper on a unit basis when compared to retail colocation.

Unlike traditional colocation options, the lessees are completely responsible for the management and maintenance of their IT resources. It is different as equipment such as servers is not shared with other businesses.

A wholesale data center will feature real estate of over 10,000 square feet. Further, it is essentially empty space if you do not consider the cooling and power infrastructure. The business is completely responsible for bringing in their own racks, cages, servers, cables, and whatever staffing is needed.

As a result, this solution is ideal for large enterprises that need massive IT infrastructure. It is also highly suitable for businesses that need to control their core processes while remaining autonomous.

What’s Web Hosting?

Web hosting, on the other hand, offers hosting solutions for both individual and business websites; this requires a server system that’s able to host and support a website.

It is like an internet hosting service that enables individuals, businesses, and large enterprises to make their site accessible on the World Wide Web.

There are three basic components to any website currently online:

• Domain name
• Site files
• Web hosting server

This does not even come close to the needs catered to by wholesale colocation providers. However, it sort of falls into the domain of retail colocation where server space is rented but maintained by the service provider.

The Bottom Line

Individuals and firms can also self-host their websites, as web servers are essentially computers hooked up to the internet, capable of serving any form of content. However, this does not mean large enterprise websites are not hosted at data centers.

The same applies to IT infrastructure, as this can also be handled in-house. However, when a business grows, this can get complicated, as you will need more space and power to scale.

As a result, data centers offer this service to make it easier for businesses to focus all their attention on their products.

Did your business start with basic web hosting then move up the ladder to a wholesale data center provider? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments box below.

To learn more about catering to colocation clients and how wholesale differs from web hosting, check out our webinar "Attracting Data Center Clients: Step by Step."