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A Guide To Colocation In Atlanta

A Guide To Colocation In Atlanta


Colocation is the practice of businesses renting space, hardware, and/or services at external data centers. It may be used instead of or as well as in-house data centers or the cloud. Here is a guide to the specific landscape of colocation in Atlanta.

An overview of Atlanta’s business landscape

Atlanta benefits from a highly strategic geographical location, which it leverages with a robust transportation infrastructure. In addition to its famous railroad, it has light rail, an extensive network of freeways, and, of course, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. This is one of the busiest airports in the world, not just in the USA.

The Georgia state capital is host to several global brands across multiple industries but is probably most famous as a hub for the entertainment industry. In fact, the city has been dubbed, the “Hollywood of the South.”. Atlanta also has a thriving SMB sector and, in particular, a fast-expanding tech sector. This has encouraged the development of businesses to serve them, including colocation providers.

Benefits of colocation in Atlanta

Arguably the main benefit of colocation in Atlanta is that it provides businesses with a highly cost-effective way to establish and/or maintain a presence in a key economic hub. Its scalability and reliability are also particularly beneficial to companies located in Atlanta.

Cost-effectiveness

As the capital of Georgia, Atlanta is widely regarded as the gateway to the whole Southeast. It also has the transport infrastructure needed to provide easy access to the whole USA and indeed the whole world.

The strategic benefits of Atlanta’s location are reflected in local real-estate prices. This means that building (or buying) a data center will almost certainly entail a particularly high up-front cost. Even if funds are not an issue, businesses may struggle to find available facilities within their preferred timescale.

With colocation, however, businesses can easily get the facilities they need without a significant upfront investment (or the need for a protracted search).

Scalability

Atlanta is home to a lot of businesses that have very clear business cycles with regular peaks and dips. It also has a lot of start-ups, scale-ups, and SMBs. All of these businesses need the sort of flexibility that colocation can provide.

Reliability

One of the many reasons businesses choose to base themselves in Atlanta is that it is a very safe destination. In the context of running IT infrastructure, that means there are minimal local threats from either humans or the environment.

With that said, however, Atlanta does have periodic storms, both tropical and ice. The former often bring hurricanes in their wake. There are also very occasional tornadoes. Colocation providers ensure business continuity by implementing redundancy measures to guarantee uninterrupted operations even during adverse weather conditions.

Factors affecting colocation costs in Atlanta

The factors affecting colocation costs in Atlanta are essentially the same as the factors affecting colocation costs in general. Here is a quick overview of them with specific reference to colocation in Atlanta.

Location and space

At the end of the day, colocation facilities are real estate assets and, as such, they are influenced by the same dynamics as the standard real estate market. That means premium locations command premium prices. It also means that the more space you require, the more you will pay.

This in itself is not at all unique to Atlanta. With that said, the definition of what is and is not a premium location will be determined by the local property market.

Tier and services

Tiers are an indication of a colocation facility’s level of redundancy and hence its reliability. Services are a reflection of what infrastructure a facility can provide. For example, what power, cooling, and network-connectivity options does it offer?

As Atlanta is a reasonably safe location with a fairly benign climate, businesses may be able to lean towards a lower tier and more streamlined services.

On-site support considerations

Currently, Atlanta’s tech sector is still very much in the process of development. With that said, it is definitely flourishing so getting on-site support is highly unlikely to be an issue. Furthermore, that on-site support may come at a lower cost than other more established tech hubs such as San Francisco.

Choosing a colocation service in Atlanta

The process of choosing a colocation service in Atlanta is also essentially the same as the process of choosing a colocation service in any other location. Firstly, you need to define your requirements. In particular, you need to specify the following:

  • Compliance requirements
  • Facility tiers requirements
  • Geographic location requirements
  • Connectivity infrastructure requirements
  • Power infrastructure requirements
  • Scalability requirements
  • On-site support requirements

If you are looking for colocation services in Atlanta, DataBank is likely an excellent choice. DataBank has four state-of-the-art data centers in the Atlanta area, which combine to offer 294,810 square feet of raised floor space, and 55.4MW critical IT load. Learn more about DataBank’s Atlanta data center facilities.

Related Resources

A Simple Guide To Colocation In Cleveland
A Simple Guide To Colocation In Chicago
A Straightforward Guide To Colocation In Boston
A Simple Guide To Colocation In Baltimore
A Guide To Colocation In Austin

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