If your business has outgrown a shared hosting account an ISP, now is the time to consider co-locating your own dedicated server in a topline colocation data center. If you are looking to cut down the costs of managing, monitoring and supporting your own servers within your office facilities, it is time to consider moving to a professionally managed colocation server in a data center.

Here are some useful tips to consider when selecting the data center to meet your needs. Your exact issues may vary, but these are some helpful important items that you will want to consider.

Choose Colocation Data Center Which Meets Your Basic Needs
This may include Internet bandwidth, rack availability, security, power availability, UPS and Generator Backup, temperature control, accessibility etc.

Choose a Colocation Facility Which Includes Remote Hands Service On-Site 24/7
Many colocation facilities will tell you that they offer Remote Hands Service – they have staff that can walk over to your box and make manual changes if needed. Most colocation data centers are not staffed 24/7 and of those that are, most of these charge an hourly fee of $100/hour or so. There are just a few premium companies who include the 24/7 Onsite Remote Hands Service with their colocation services free at the data center. These companies services set them above the rest of the facilities because when you need it, not having to sing a form to pay for the service can mean that you will get your servers up much more quickly in an emergency. This is crucial when you need it. So verify with a proposed Colocation facility before you sign a contract that they have 24/7 hands on service available without extra fees, and without requiring additional written requests to get it done.

Consider Your Future Colocation Internet Bandwidth Needs
Because Internet bandwidth prices can vary dramatically from data center to data center it is wise to plan in advance and check the cost. If you plan to start with 1Mbps and may grow to 10Mbps, 100Mbps, 1,000Mbps or 10,000Mbps, it is wise to check in advance what the price would be per Mbps should you need to upgrade. A discount hosting facility that caps you at a minimal maximum bandwidth, might look cheap now but won’t allow you the ability to grow in the future.