Colocation is enjoying a boom

Lawrence Buxton says datacentre demand and expansion will transform the channel

Much like industrial-age factories, datacentres are buildings full of industrial equipment which changes raw materials into something more usable. Today digital data is processed into information that can be used to fuel commerce, business, and entertainment services.

Tax changes mean that UK-based companies will not need to relocate their datacentres offshore in order to remain competitive.

Unrelenting growth in both datacentre capacity and cloud hosting will benefit datacentre owners and incumbent vendors, as well as the channel, which is being forced to adapt to a new market where businesses expect cloud services and apps as well as traditional software and hardware.

End customers of IT providers, particularly if they are SMBs without in-house IT resources, want comprehensive service packages that merge data storage with analysis, virtualisation, hybrid cloud offerings, and consultancy.

One opportunity for VARs is to offer datacentre space bundled with these services. However, VARs would need to consider whether to set up their own expensive, resource-hungry datacentres or opt for colocation.

Using rack space in a colocation centre is considerably cheaper than running a dedicated server room or site. At the same time, you can concentrate on customer service and support to complement a portfolio of products and services.

There has been a boom in colocation centres, allowing VARs to offer customers more flexibility and scalability in the event of demand fluctuations.

This could have a transformational effect on the UK IT channel, as business models adapt to customer demands and advances in technology, data use and communication infrastructure.

It may be too early to predict the result of this growth in datacentre demand, but prospects exist for everyone in the supply chain, with opportunities there for the taking if you can adapt.

Lawrence Buxton is operations director at Sentrum Colo