For startups and enterprises, data centre colocation has become a major part of the business in the digital age where (Internet of Things) IoT is ubiquitous across every sector and big data is now just data. For most businesses, the IoT frameworks go far beyond the reach of the local data centre with an ever-expanding network edge of sensors that stretch across a city and even the world.

Big Data’s impact on data centres is far-reaching since achieving low cost and low latency application performance is imperative with IoT-driven businesses. This is especially true as more and more of IoT data processing is getting pushed out to the edge to get as close as possible to the source sensors and end-users of the resulting data analytics. Consequently, today’s data centre colocation providers can offer the best means for filling the gap in IoT’s edge computing landscape while offering a cost-effective means for managing, storing, and organizing big data.

While the cloud is also a major part of that IoT/big data world, businesses require the means for gaining instantaneous access, fast data transport, and compute resources that are reliable. Of course, technology and cost needs associated with moving massive amounts of data into the cloud is not the best strategy when latency and accessibility are driving IoT and big data for a business.

Effective IoT and the resultant big data being delivered from sensors require the shortest possible distance between sensors, data analytics applications, and the end-users of the processed data. Colocation service providers can effectively serve IoT framework needs by delivering an abundance of options including major cloud providers and broad peering options among others.

Colocation becomes the most efficient and flexible means to manage and analyze the enormous amounts of IoT sensor data for factories, supply chains, power grids, distributed products and even cities. Smart cities have now moved beyond the point of speculation in ways that integrate utilities, services, security, transportation and much more under the IoT banner. Data centre colocation providers like Telehouse are leading the way in support of making that a reality in major metropolises like New York.

For most businesses with IoT and big data as part of their business model, edge routing will continue to require expansion. That means an interconnected mesh of both international and regional access hubs that can further hybrid cloud strategy benefits through colocation networking. The goal is to deliver data across the shortest path from point A to point B with the most cost-effective connectivity charges.

For these businesses, data centre colocation requirements call for a provider that can deliver a broad slate of solutions to meet a plurality of needs. This ranges from meeting low latency and rapid application response needs to skilled management, monitoring and broad connectivity peering as part of a hybrid cloud and multi-cloud approach. By choosing the right cloud and data centre colocation providers, businesses can push resources out to the edge and essentially bring the data centre to their customers via close IoT sensor data transfers.