# What are the benefits of colocation? Source: https://www.colosolutions.com/answers/what-are-the-benefits-of-colocation/ Updated: 2026-09-24 Reviewed by: James San Filippo Colocation gives you carrier choice, redundant power and cooling, and physical security without building or staffing a facility yourself — while you keep ownership and full control of the hardware. At Colo Solutions in Orlando that means N+1 power and cooling, cross-connects to nine carriers in the building plus an internet exchange, and a predictable monthly cost in place of periodic capital spending on a server room. ## Key figures - **You own:** The servers, operating systems, applications and data - **The provider supplies:** Space, power, cooling, physical security and connectivity - **Redundancy at Colo Solutions:** N+1 across power, cooling and connectivity - **Carrier access:** Cross-connect to any facilities-based carrier in the building - **Cost shape:** Predictable monthly operating cost rather than periodic capital outlay ## The short version Colocation is renting space, power, cooling and connectivity for hardware you own and control. The benefits fall into four groups, and they are worth separating because different organizations are buying different ones. ## 1. Infrastructure you would not build for yourself A server room in an office typically has one utility feed, a UPS sized for a graceful shutdown, and comfort cooling that was never designed for a rack. A data center has redundant utility feeds, generators, N+1 UPS and purpose-built cooling — because that is the entire product rather than an overhead. At Colo Solutions the facility runs on two independent utility feeds, one of them on the Priority 1 hospital grid, with three diesel generators in an N+1 farm behind them. Replicating that in your own building is possible. It is rarely justifiable for one company's equipment. ## 2. Carrier choice, and the leverage that comes with it This is the benefit most often underestimated. In a carrier-neutral facility you can reach any provider with equipment in the building through a [cross connect](/answers/what-is-a-cross-connect-in-a-data-center/), and you can change providers without moving anything physical. That is real commercial leverage at renewal, and it is genuine redundancy when you take two carriers over separate paths. In an office you have whoever will run fiber to your street, on their timeline. ## 3. Cost shape, not just cost Colocation is often described as cheaper. That is not reliably true, and it is the wrong argument. What changes is the **shape** of the spending. Building and refreshing a server room is lumpy capital expenditure — cooling one year, a UPS replacement the next, a generator eventually. Colocation is a predictable monthly operating cost that scales with what you use, and it stops you buying capacity years ahead of needing it. ## 4. Physical security and independent examination A cabinet in a colocation facility sits behind dual-factor access control, a mantrap, unique cabinet keys and recorded video. More importantly, those controls are **independently examined** — Colo Solutions holds SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2 reports from 360 Advanced, plus a HIPAA Security Rule examination. If you are regulated, or your customers audit you, that examined evidence is often the actual reason to move. See [what each report covers](/compliance/). ## Where colocation is the wrong answer Worth saying, because it saves time. If you want someone else to run the operating systems and applications, that is managed IT or cloud, not colocation — in colocation the equipment stays yours to administer. If you need multi-region failover across separate US geographies, a single-facility provider cannot deliver that alone. And if your workload is genuinely spiky, renting capacity by the hour somewhere elastic may suit it better than a cabinet you pay for every month.