Why Colocation Still Matters in 2025

Despite the dominance of cloud-native architectures, colocation remains an essential solution for businesses that prioritize hardware-level control, predictable latency, and physical data sovereignty. In our case, a growing analytics platform with data compliance requirements and hardware-intensive workloads pushed us to explore colocation. We ultimately chose Advanced Hosting’s colocation services, and the transition has delivered clear operational benefits. The full description of their offering is available here: https://advancedhosting.com/colocation/

Preparing for the Move

Before committing, we worked closely with their engineering team to review cabinet specs, power availability, and network layout. Unlike many providers that rely on templated responses, Advanced Hosting provided tailored recommendations based on our equipment type and growth roadmap.

Our hardware included GPU-powered compute nodes, multiple storage units, and a separate firewall appliance. These were shipped directly to the facility, where their team handled racking and cabling as per our documentation. We received access to remote management interfaces within the first day, and full services were up and running shortly after.

Data Center Design and Physical Standards

The facility itself matched modern Tier III+ expectations. There was redundancy at every layer—power, cooling, and network. The physical access controls were stringent: biometric scans, mantrap doors, video surveillance, and secured cabinets. For a company handling regulated data, this level of physical assurance was critical.

We chose shared cabinet space to start, but Advanced Hosting also offers private cages and custom footprint options, making it easy to scale vertically or horizontally without migrating to a new location.

Network Efficiency and Real-World Throughput

Network performance was a key deciding factor, and it didn’t disappoint. With redundant uplinks to Tier 1 providers and the ability to configure BGP sessions using our own ASN, we gained flexibility in routing strategies that we couldn’t achieve in cloud setups.

Our bandwidth-intensive batch processes, which once caused bottlenecks, now run consistently thanks to stable throughput and high-capacity links. The facility also supports cross-connects, allowing us to privately link compute and storage environments without traversing the public internet.

We measured inbound and outbound speeds regularly, and there were no signs of congestion even during peak traffic windows.

Remote Management and Hands-On Support

Operating infrastructure remotely always involves a degree of dependency on the local team. In this case, the remote hands service from Advanced Hosting was both responsive and technically competent. Tasks like hardware diagnostics, drive swaps, and connectivity checks were handled efficiently, with real-time updates provided via ticketing.

Their support model includes 24/7 availability with defined SLAs, something we’ve relied on more than once during late-night configuration cycles and hardware maintenance windows.

Cost Transparency and Ownership Advantages

After years of scaling in the cloud, moving to colocation felt like regaining strategic control. Monthly billing became stable and predictable. We no longer had to optimize around provider-imposed resource limits or pay steep egress fees to move data between systems.

Hardware ownership also gave us the ability to upgrade individual components on our schedule—whether swapping in newer GPUs or increasing memory in compute nodes—without vendor lock-in or contractual delays.

Over time, this translates into substantial cost efficiency and greater flexibility to tune performance based on evolving needs.

Final Thoughts

Our decision to colocate with Advanced Hosting has proven to be one of the most impactful infrastructure moves we've made in recent years. The facility, support, and network performance all align with the needs of high-throughput, security-sensitive operations.

Colocation isn’t just about space and power—it’s about gaining full architectural freedom while still benefiting from enterprise-grade facilities and support. For teams who outgrow cloud limitations or require stronger control over data and performance, this solution is more relevant than ever.