The term “colocation” historically has more than one meaning. In current usage, colocation (or colo) commonly refers to a data center facility which rents space for servers and other computing hardware. It has also referred to colocation of a data center with facilities providing services to that data center such as a power plant providing electricity.
A typical colo provides the building (or campus with multiple buildings) with power, cooling, connections, racks, rooms, and cabinets. Some colos provide servers. Most often, however, the colo tenant provides the servers and related equipment. Space in the facility can be leased by the rack, cabinet, or room. Some colos even offer management services. The relationship between the colo landlord and the colo tenant has many of the elements of a typical landlord/tenant relationship with the added consideration that it takes place in a highly technical environment in which the landlord must meet high standards of technical compliance and reliability.