Everything You Need to Know About Agile Colocation

In 2018, Gartner predicted that by 2025, 80 percent of enterprises will have shut down their traditional on-premises data center. Citing broader adoption of cloud-based workloads, increased interconnectivity and the proliferation of Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Gartner predicted that the role of the traditional data center would eventually transition to a holding area for very specific workloads that can’t be legally or economically housed anywhere -- except an on-premises data center. 

Fast-forward three years, and traditional data centers are still around, but they are making less and less sense from both a business and technology standpoint.

Common Limitations of Traditional Data Centers

Even before the COVID-19 crisis drove the world’s businesses, educational institutions and social outlets to the internet, demand for data center capacity was on the rise. Today, we are experiencing historic levels of cloud and web usage, thanks in large part to an accelerated rate of digital transformation, which has quickly amplified the limitations of traditional data centers. These limitations include:

Insufficient technology

Globally, there has been a surge in data generation over the past year and a half that shows no signs of slowing down. Processing large volumes of real-time data increases workloads and puts extra stress on older, legacy data center infrastructure.

Latency issues

As more organizations adopt SaaS solutions, there is little need for on-premises infrastructure. The IoT and edge computing are also gaining traction, which requires data storage, networking and processing to move out of centralized hubs and closer to devices to reduce latency.

Poor efficiency

Traditional data centers are also operationally inefficient. They require skilled IT staff—which is in extremely short supply—to conduct many maintenance and operations tasks manually, unlike modern facilities that automate and orchestrate many processes and routine IT functions.

Lack of scalability

Many traditional data centers overprovision capacity and waste resources in an effort to accommodate future growth. Newer construction methods, such as the modular approach, are easily scalable so capacity can grow or shrink as needed.

In short, the overarching issue with traditional data centers is that they lack the agility, and even the capability needed to adapt to today’s rapidly changing business and technology needs.

Factors Driving the Switch to Agile Colocation

Agile colocation aligns business and technology, so there is room for businesses to innovate and grow, without changing facilities. Agile colocation allows operators to adapt quickly to changing market circumstances and respond to opportunities or threats, creating a secure, flexible and cost-effective environment for their tenants.

COVID-19 propelled the business world into digital consumption overdrive, which in turn is driving a worldwide data center construction boom. Agile colocation provides a reliable long-term solution that allows businesses to accommodate the current surge, but remain flexible for future unknowns.

Here are some of the most common reasons businesses are making the move from traditional data centers to agile colocation facilities:

Lease terms

Technology changes fast, and long-term leases aren’t conducive to growth and innovation. No business wants to be locked into a five-year lease with a facility that can’t keep pace with its capacity needs or hinders its digital transformation objectives.

Agile colocation offers shorter contracts and more flexibility to scale as needed, so businesses are free to innovate and evolve, knowing they won’t run into latency and storage issues down the line.

Space and power

Space and power needs are not always equivalent. One tenant may take up a large amount of square footage, but require minimal power to support its workload, while another in the same facility may use triple the power to run a single GPU. 

Agile colocation can customize space and power to meet the specific needs of each tenant, so there is no wasted capacity or latency issues due to insufficient resources.

Another consideration is that availability and capacity needs aren’t always consistent, even for the same tenant.

Agile colocation can adapt to fluctuations in resource requirements so that every tenant has reliable availability and capacity whenever they require it.

Security

Different colocation facility clients often have very different levels of security requirements. Agile colocation can provide multiple levels of security and asset protection to meet each tenant's specific needs, such as private suites, separate entrances, mantraps and access to dark fiber. 

Managed services

Many organizations are struggling with the global shortage of skilled IT and technology professionals. 

Agile colocation providers can help bridge that gap by offering managed services and staff augmentation to clients, including help with rollouts and data migrations, as well as some day-to-day IT functions and routine maintenance.

Improved uptime, latency and scalability are three major reasons businesses make the move from traditional data centers to agile colocation facilities. In today’s uncertain and rapidly changing business environment, it’s reassuring to know that you can adapt easily and quickly to respond as needed. Download Key Takeaways from CBRE's 2021 Data Center Predictions and the Impact on Colocation to learn more about the direction in which colocation is headed and what that means for the future of data centers.