Top 12 Cloud Trends Of 2012

Filed under: Cloud Hosting

Only a few years ago, cloud computing didn’t exist. Or rather, it existed by a dozen other names–such as virtualization, managed hosting, or simply The Internet. Today, it’s the must-have feature of every product or service, from mobile phones to cameras to TVs.

Microsoft outage highlights importance of managed hosting disaster recovery

Filed under: Managed Hosting

A major infrastructure outage in Ireland affecting managed hosting services supplied by Amazon and Microsoft has highlighted the importance of disaster recovery and business continuity in the sector.

Both Amazon’s EC2 cloud service and Microsoft’s BPOS desktop virtualization suite were knocked offline after severe storms hit infrastructure in the country.

The outages show that taking preventative action is a must, as is planning for every eventuality.

Ethernet, Fibre Channel sales boom in Q4

Filed under: Ethernet News

Networking and telecom market watcher Dell’Oro Group says that shipments of 10 Gigabit Ethernet and 8 Gb/sec Fibre Channel adapters are booming. And, somewhat surprisingly, they’re not eating into each other, despite the convergence of server and storage fabrics with Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) support on mny 10 Gigabit Ethernet switches.

What is Colocation

Filed under: Colocation

Colocation

Colocation is a technical tem referring to the location of a web server or other telecommunications equipment within a data centre built for the purpose of housing high tech electronic equipment. The equipment is co-located with other servers hence the name colocation or co-location. Colocation is differs from managed hosting as the server is owned by the client and not the data centre.

Usually the equipment, a web server that is housed in a collocation centre is located in a secured cage or rack, with a regulated power supply, it´s own dedicated internet connection, security software and managed support. The advantage of a collocation centre is that the equipment is housed in a purpose built facility with the correct atmospheric controls, electrical supplies and solid high speed internet connections. A good co-location centre will have high level security measure and be much better protected against theft, fire and vandalism then a server hosted within a companies normal office. From a top level provider of collocation you would expect there to be security cameras, fire alarm and detection equipment coupled with extinguishing and sprinkler systems. They should also have back up power supplies, power surge protection and a variety of internet connections. The idea being that during a power failure or the loss of an internet connection a server housed in a collocation centre would carry on working with little or no down time. They offer a level of security and the ability to stay connected and keeps your server working that a server housed with an office of work space would not offer.

Colocation centres are also sometime called carrier hotel or “colo´s”. Colocation is increasing in popularity due to the time and money a company can save buy sharing the large scale costs of providing the best environment for servers and other telecommunications equipment. Economies of scale come into play it cheaper to have your equipment, core IT and communications facilities in safe, secure hands in purpose built location then build run and staff a colocation facility yourself.