There are two major groupings most data centers fall within: wholesale data centers and retail data centers. Retail data centers are offered by colocation data centers who provide both retail and rental options for small businesses.

At a basic level, colocation facilities provide leasing options to rent single servers, cages, and racks. These options are highly suitable for businesses wanting to take advantage of colocation on a budget.

Wholesale colocation is preferred by larger enterprises who require entire rooms or facilities, leasing up to tens of thousands of square feet. 

As businesses try to find the best solution for their colocation needs, data center brokers have increasingly started to play an important role in this process. As a result, some websites have popped up over the years to help fill in the gaps.

The primary benefit of engaging a broker is to get help with identifying opportunities that might not have been known to the business itself. When you work with good data center brokers, they will take the time to learn about your needs and identify opportunities that are best suited for your enterprise.

There is nothing easy about building and managing a data center. These facilities are highly complicated and usually most companies only have a few members of staff that actually fully understand the whole IT process (within the facility). So it’s always a good idea to get a data center consultant involved to manage the design, building infrastructure, and migration.

Data centers have been growing rapidly and this phenomenon is expected to double with the evolution of the Internet of Things (IoT). As businesses grow, they will also require more colocation space to manage their data center operations. So data center operators need to consider several variables to manage the increased need for storage. Managers will have to calculate the cost to power and cool the facility and the cost of new data center cabinets.

Whether it’s the business world or the general public, data centers are now a vital part of our daily lives. With the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), data centers will only increase in importance and rapidly multiply around the world. However, building and managing opens the door to many data center specifications issues. Not only is it an expensive project to undertake, it’s also a massive challenge to operate without any unforeseeable disruptions.