Understanding the Role of Colocation Data Centres in the Healthcare Industry

The onset of the digitalisation era, along with modern technology, has drastically impacted all sectors of the economy, and the healthcare industry is no exception. While technological advancements have proved beneficial in terms of increasing efficiency and accuracy in the healthcare sector, robust IT infrastructure has become the need of the hour. However, getting used to such large data influxes has been a significant challenge for the healthcare industry, leading to the rapid adoption of colocation data centre services.

Additionally, the ongoing Covid-19 crisis has also been the driving force behind the healthcare sector’s IT infrastructure expansion. This is because telemedicine (the remote access to healthcare services through telecommunications technology) witnessed a massive boom during the pandemic. As a result, the healthcare industry’s IT services are expected to grow by 9.5 per cent y-o-y (year over year) in the coming 3 to 5 years (1). 

Moreover, not only are colocation data centres helping bridge the gap between social distancing and access to healthcare services, but they are also significantly lowering the costs. Behind the storage, processing, and passage of every piece of digital health information is a colocation data centre that provides the servers, power & cooling equipment, switches, racks, and high-speed networks. So, let’s take a deeper dive into understanding the role of colocation data centres in the healthcare industry. 

The Benefits of Employing Colocation Data Centre Services for the Healthcare Sector

As discussed, colocation data centres help improve and maintain core IT infrastructure functions such as cooling, power, connectivity, and providing remote support. However, there are several other benefits of employing colocation data centre services for the healthcare sector, such as: 

• Increased Efficiency for Healthcare Providers 

By opting for colocation data centre services, healthcare providers, research experts, EHR managers, and other medical professionals can focus better on core functions such as crisis management, innovation, and research. Additionally, data management gets much more efficient and easier as technicians and operational experts provide on-hand support. Moreover, renting space in a colocation data centre is cheaper than building and maintaining an on-site facility. Therefore, the only expense required is for power and space, making resource utilisation more systematic. 

• Providing A Support System Through IoT

Today, IoT (Internet of Things) is widely used across the healthcare industry, offering convenient tools & applications such as monitoring devices, control stations, drug/medicine delivery and scheduling systems, and much more. To enhance the efficiency of these IoT-enabled systems, colocation data centre facilities are prepared for potential downtime causes like harsh weather conditions and natural calamities. Moreover, data centres ensure high-speed network connectivity so that all digital medical information can be accessed easily - while also shielding confidential patient records from physical security breaches. 

• Improving Quality of Care 

Although colocation data centre services offer several advantages, efficiency and scalability are most beneficial for the healthcare sector. While the former allows industry experts to focus on core competencies, the latter offers the advantage of large scale expansion. As a result, the healthcare industry can channel its financial resources into collectively improving the quality of care. 

The Way Forward with Leading Colocation Data Centres

At present, the global healthcare industry spends around 2.7 trillion US dollars each year on IT infrastructure and data centres(2), and the Indian health sector makes a sizeable contribution to this figure. This has resulted in the widespread use of colocation data centre services for healthcare entities across the country, especially since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. 

However, even colocation data centres need to keep advancing and innovating their services to keep pace with the evolving digital landscape. Leading colocation providers such as STT GDC India have been at the forefront of data centre innovation for over a decade, offering customer-centric solutions with 21 state-of-the-art facilities spread across 9 cities in India. 

Awarded the Great Place to Work Certification threeColocation provider of the year by Frost & Sullivan for four times in a row, STT GDC India provides guaranteed uptime of upto 100 per cent with reliable, secure, cost-effective, sustainable and scalable colocation data centre solutions. They also offer carrier-dense and carrier-neutral interconnections with India’s largest floor area at 3.8 Mn+ and an IT load of 197MW200 MW. 

Although STT GDC India has a diverse range of customers across all verticals, they also cater to healthcare entities such as Tata Medical Center. So, head straight to their website and explore STT GDC India’s colocation data centre services today.