What Is Colocation: Colocation vs. Managed Hosting vs. Cloud

Colocation offers a solution for companies that want to maintain ownership of their hardware while avoiding the cost and complexity of building and operating their own data centers. It is a pay-for-space model where you bring your servers and the colocation provider offers the following services:

• Redundant power and cooling infrastructure
• Physical security, including biometrics, mantraps, and 24/7 surveillance
• Carrier-neutral connectivity to ISPs and cloud on-ramps
• Uptime guarantees, often as high as 99.999%
• Hands-on support and remote access services when needed

At OTAVA, our colocation facilities are designed for resilience and flexibility. We offer multiple deployment options, from single racks to custom private suites, backed by compliance certifications like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001. You maintain full control of your environment while we handle the facility operations that keep it online and secure.

Many organizations colocate core infrastructure, legacy systems, or regulated workloads to ensure performance and security without taking on the operational burden of a physical site.

With managed hosting, you don’t have to worry about buying or maintaining servers. The provider owns the hardware, keeps it running, and handles the behind-the-scenes stuff so your team can focus on your apps, your users, and your goals.

Here’s what’s typically included:

• Servers managed and monitored by the provider
• Regular OS updates and patches
• Performance tuning to keep systems fast and stable
• Daily backups and recovery options
• Built-in security like firewalls and threat detection

It’s a good fit if you don’t have the time or staff to babysit infrastructure. You still control your applications and data, but you’re not stuck dealing with hardware failures or 2 a.m. patch jobs. Managed hosting gives you stability without the stress if your workloads are steady and your team needs to move fast without getting bogged down in system admin work.

At OTAVA, we offer a hybrid approach through managed colocation. Your team brings the hardware, retaining control and transparency, while we manage the infrastructure it runs on. 

That includes: 

• Physical protection
• Regulated access
• Network monitoring
• Redundant power
• Climate control

This model gives you the performance and visibility of owned hardware with the convenience and reliability of a managed solution.

Cloud hosting lets you skip the physical hardware. Instead of racks and servers, you rent virtual infrastructure, including servers, databases, containers, or storage, delivered through an API or web console. You spin up resources when you need them, shut them down when you don’t, and only pay for what you use. No hardware lifecycle or rack space. Just pure flexibility.

There are three main types of cloud hosting:

• Public cloud: Shared infrastructure from providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud. It scales fast and reaches globally.
• Private cloud: Dedicated environments built just for your organization. Ideal for sensitive data or strict compliance.
• Hybrid cloud: A mix of cloud and on-prem or collocated systems, letting you move data, workloads, and backups freely between environments.

Cloud hosting is a strong fit when speed, scalability, and geographic flexibility matter most. It supports agile development, global delivery, and dynamic workloads with:

• Elastic compute and storage that adapts to demand
• Instant provisioning for rapid deployment
• Built-in automation and DevOps integrations
• Pay-as-you-go billing for cost efficiency
• Multi-region infrastructure for global performance and redundancy

For teams building modern apps, testing new ideas, or supporting unpredictable workloads, cloud is often the go-to foundation.

However, it’s not a fit for every workload. Compliance requirements, data sovereignty laws, and predictable workloads may drive some applications away from public cloud. Costs can also spiral without clear governance.

That’s why we help clients build hybrid architectures that connect cloud platforms to collocated or on-prem systems. You might run secure workloads in colocation while bursting to the public cloud for web traffic spikes or data analytics. Our infrastructure makes that possible with integrated security, workload portability, and centralized management.

Each model solves different challenges. Let’s compare them across some critical areas.

The decision isn’t just about cost. It’s about alignment with your operational model. 

• If you need strict hardware control, choose colocation.
• If you want to reduce hands-on management, go managed.
• If you need scale and speed, cloud is your best bet.

That said, colocation vs. managed hosting vs. cloud doesn’t have to be a binary choice. Most modern infrastructures use a combination of all three.

According to industry data, the global colocation market, driven by rising cloud adoption and hybrid demand, is forecasted to grow beyond $130 billion by 2030. Colocation remains foundational for businesses needing dedicated systems with regulatory oversight.

To make an informed decision, consider:

• Control vs convenience: Do you need hardware-level visibility, or is operational ease more valuable?
• Staffing: Can your team manage infrastructure 24/7?
• Compliance: Are there regulatory requirements tied to your workload?
• Performance needs: Do latency or data sovereignty impact your deployment model?
• Scalability: Will demand fluctuate rapidly?

Many clients colocate critical systems, use managed hosting for ERP or steady workloads, and reserve cloud for innovation environments or disaster recovery.

At OTAVA, we do not believe in one-size-fits-all. Your infrastructure should match your business and not the other way around. That is why we collaborate with you to design a hosting strategy that fits your security posture, regulatory requirements, and long-term goals. Whether you need full control through colocation, want to offload infrastructure with managed hosting, or are exploring cloud for its scalability and automation, we help you strike the right balance.

We make complex environments feel manageable. Our team brings experience in compliance-heavy industries, hybrid architecture design, and always-on support. You don’t have to choose between performance and simplicity. With us, you get both.

We are here to be a partner, not just a provider. From planning to migration to day-to-day optimization, we walk with you every step of the way.

Let’s find the right mix together. Contact us to build a hosting strategy that grows with your business.

• What Is a Colocation Data Center 
• A Guide to Managed and Unmanaged Colocation
• What Are Colocation Services
• Managed Colocation Services Perks: Security, Uptime, and IT Efficiency