Capital Hosting

In recent years the need for web hosting and data storage has increased exponentially as businesses and individuals use the internet for more and more of their daily life. In response ever more data centres and colocation centres are being built. Thanks to improvements in technology, colocation centres can now be built all over the world and do not necessarily have to be close to urban centres. Colocation is where a company rents out space in a data centre that individuals and businesses can store their webservers. A colocation company may also rent out servers kept within the centre. More information on colocation and the advantages can be found in the Squidoo 'What is Colocation?' Due to the large numbers of servers and technology in a data centre, they usually have a number of specific features.

Most colocation data centres have very high levels of security - they store huge amounts of data, a lot of which can be private or sensitive, and they need to keep it safe for their customers. At the most basic the individual server cabinets are locked in order to prevent customers accessing other servers that they do not own or rent. Visitors to the centre are also usually escorted by employees. Guards may be utilised to raise security levels and CCTV is often used to monitor the premises. PIN codes may be needed to enter the site, while some centres give their customers proximity cards.

Recently data centres have started to use more sophisticated technology - for example, biometric security measures that identify someone by their individual characteristic may be used. These techniques include fingerprint recognition, voice recognition or 'weight matching'. Data centres can also use 'man traps'. This is where a corridor leading into a data centre has a door at each end and the doors cannot be opened at the same time.

Another important feature of a data centre will be its cooling system. Data centres house a huge amount of servers and electronics and in order for this equipment to function properly it needs to be kept at specific temperatures and humidity levels. Air conditioning is used in colocation centres to maintain the correct temperature and humidity. Electronic equipment give out a lot of heat as they work - this hot air needs to be regulated and cooled as if the equipment gets too hot it can malfunction. Similarly if the air is too humid, water can condense inside the equipment and cause problems, while if there is not sufficient humidity it can cause static electricity discharge problems.

Many data centres use raised floors, not only to store and route the copious amounts of wiring and electrical supply, but to store the cooling systems and supply a plenum space. Though this has been a popular feature of data centres, recently there has been a debate over whether solid floors are more effective and cost efficient.

Colocation centres will also have high levels of fire protection systems. The systems in place in many centres use both passive and active fire protection. Passive fire protection attempts to contain the fire for as long as possible and this is often carried out through the use of fire resistant walls and floors or through cable coating. Passive fire protection slows down the spread of the fire and means that the centre has more time to deal with it. Active fire protection involves a certain amount of motion or response - this can come in the form of fire extinguishers, fire alarms and smoke detectors as well as sprinkler systems.

Other special characteristics of colocation data centres will include back-up generators for when they suffer a power failure. The generators do not start up immediately so there is often a back-up battery system also in place. Colocation centres may also have 'meet-me rooms' where different carriers that use the centre can efficiently exchange data, these rooms are generally popular with telecommunications companies. Hot and cold aisles are also implemented in data centres. This is where the server racks are positioned in rows in a way that will maximise the efficiency of the air conditioning system. The 'hot aisles' (the hot air exhaust side) will generally face the air conditioner return ducts while the 'cold aisles ' (the rack fronts) will face the air conditioner output ducts. Finally many colocation centres have little to no windows - this is mainly due to the fact that they are unnecessary, but also because having a large number of windows can affect the temperature in the centre.

© Izzy Evans 2012

If you would like to find out more about this type of hosting you can visit Colocation.