Many small businesses are likely to keep their IT infrastructure in-house and will employ one or more people to oversee the administration and running of the IT operation. This is fine in theory, as outlay on IT equipment; upkeep and location of servers will in all likelihood reflect the current business model at the time. However, what happens when the business begins to expand and grow? Will a company's current IT infrastructure be able to grow as the company grows?



For many, the current configuration will be insufficient to meet the needs of its users and so the need to move their IT infrastructure elsewhere becomes necessary. In this situation, many businesses will elect to move their infrastructure off-site and into a data centre. A data centre is a facility used to house computer servers and associated components such as telecoms and storage systems as well as backup systems and environmental controls and security devices.

Many companies who utilise a data centre will do so on a co-located basis. In this sense, the company will need to factor in a range of costs such as server costs, hardware depreciation, and maintenance and network infrastructure among others. What's more, with a co-located data centre, the company will be responsible for looking after their own servers and implementing their own disaster recovery solution which could make the whole process more expensive than first thought, as companies commit significant cash outlay into one area of their business.

An alternative to co-located data centres is to consider outsourcing the IT infrastructure to a data centre on a managed hosting basis. These are similar to a co-located data centre in that servers are housed externally, but have some key differences.

One such difference is that a managed data centre is likely to be wholly-owned and not simply a rented facility; meaning that managed hosting facilities are likely to be more secure, due to the fact that only employees of the data centre owner will have access to the servers. Additionally, managed data centre solutions look after the entire IT operation and ensure that any faults are quickly rectified thanks to dedicated support teams on hand around-the-clock.

Computer equipment is expensive, and with constant technical evolution, quickly becomes out-dated. In a managed hosting environment, companies don't need to face the expenditure of constantly having to keep servers and equipment up-to-date as the data centre owner will be responsible for this, meaning companies can use their capital in other areas of their business. Also, rather than having to bear the initial cost of purchasing all the relevant equipment - server racks, dedicated lines, routers, UPS, etc - managed hosting options provide everything necessary for the business to migrate their IT infrastructure and so help reduce up-front capital outlay.

With less money tied up in the IT infrastructure, companies can utilise more of their capital in other ways, such as advertising and product development; knowing that the pressure to maintain their IT operation is taken care of and can scale to meet the growing demands of their business.