Collocation is moving or placing things together, sometimes implying a proper order. On the Internet, Collocation or colocation or co-location means the provisioning of space for a customer's telecommunications equipment on the service provider's premises. For example, a Web site owner could place the site's own computer servers on the premises of the Internet service provider (ISP). Or an Internet service provider could place its network routers on the premises of the company offering switching services with other ISPs. The co-location facilities offer the customer a secure place to physically house their hardware and equipment as opposed to locating it in their offices or warehouse where the potential for fire, theft, or vandalism is much greater. Most co-location facilities offer high-security, including cameras, fire detection and extinguishing devices, multiple connection feeds, filtered power, backup power generators and other items to ensure high-availability which is mandatory for all Web-based, virtual businesses.

A dedicated server is a computer in a network reserved or dedicated for serving a specific need. For example, a network may require that one computer be set aside to manage communications between all the other computers. A dedicated server could also be a computer that manages printer resources. In the Web or application hosting business, a dedicated server is a type of Internet hosting in which the client rents an entire server not shared with anyone. This is more flexible than shared hosting. You are not sharing the system resources such as processor power, memory and disk space with other users on the same server. You do not run the risk of the server being slowed down, swamped with traffic, or crashed by another site on a shared server. As nobody else has access to the server you can be sure of having a much greater degree of security. If you need to install special software or configure the server to your own particular needs then often a dedicated server is the solution. Run your own custom firewall to enforce your own access control policy. Your dedicated server has its own unique IP address. More memory, disk space or extra processors can be added as the need arises.