 - In general, colocation is moving or placing things together, sometimes implying a proper order. In technology, colocation is the renting of physical space on a service provider's premises.
Data center colocation allows a small or mid-sized business to save money by storing and running parts of its IT infrastructure off-site instead of building and maintaining a large dedicated data center in-house. For instance, a start-up business might colocate its servers. In such a scenario, the servers are owned by the business but are colocated to save money in overhead costs incurred by things like cooling, physical security or insurance. Some colocation providers also provide technical support for additional fees. (See managed service provider)
Colocation can be contrasted with cloud computing, a leasing model that allows a business to rent IT infrastructure on demand over the Internet. In a cloud computing scenario, everything is rented; the only thing the business owns is its data.
Colocation can also be spelled "colocation" or "co-location."
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Learn more about Cloud/Grid computing and virtualization for SOA |
| Cloud computing and SOA with David Linthicum: SearchSOA.com recently spoke with David Linthicum about the convergence of cloud computing and SOA. Cloud computing can help SOA succeed, Linthicum says. Hear why in this podcast. |
| Review of protocols for cloud services - Part 1: A discussion of the wide range of protocols and architecture in grid/cloud/distributed computing is in order. Bill Brogden discusses some of them in order of increasing complexity. |
| At PDC: Microsoft unveils Azure cloud computing platform, discloses "Dallas" online marketplace for data: Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie said Azure will be released in January, 2010. Microsoft also announced the preview of its new Data as a Service offering, codenamed Dallas. |
| Salesforce embraces challange from Oracle: When Oracle said it would get involved with cloud computing, Salesforce.com welcomed the competition. |
| Protocols for cloud services - Part 2: This article takes a look at JavaSpace and Hadoop, two different technologies that distribute computing jobs to cloud computing resources, manage it, and get results back. |
| Cloud Data Architecture Quick Guide: Our new Cloud Data Architecture Quick Guide provides the tips, expert advice, definitions, implementations, examples, trends and news you need to know. |
| News from TheServerSide Java Symposium: TheServerSide Java Symposium ended up last week in Las Vegas. Find video of Java experts James Gosling and Reza Rahman and coverage of the latest Java news to break at the event. |
| BPM, SOA, and cloud trends with Richard Soley, CEO of OMG: Richard Soley, CEO of the Object Management Group, discusses trends in BPM, SOA, cloud computing and enterprise architecture in this videocast. |
| Development with the Force.com Platform: In Development with the Force.com Platform, author Joe Oulette describes how to use the Force.com platform to create business applications in the cloud. Read a free excerpt here. |
| Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise: Read a free excerpt from "Cloud Computing and SOA Convergence in Your Enterprise," by David Linthicum. The book is a step-by-step guide on how to leverage cloud computing and SOA. |
| CONTRIBUTORS: |
Don Brancato and David S. Jones |
| LAST UPDATED: |
23 Feb 2010
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