In today’s business as well as government world, information needs to be analyzed, agencies need to collaborate and exchange information and a vast amount of data needs to be processed and stored for later use or references. Computer and technology makes this job a lot easier, but how to implement it and what the best solution will be is not an easy task. With today’s technology and many corporations offering various IT services, the solutions to one problem might be many but which one is the right one? Is there even a right solution? Government institutions, such as in this case Tempe Police Department, are dealing with these issues on a frequent basis, deciding what kind of technology needs to be implemented to allow them for a smooth, efficient and proper work environment while having constant and fast access to data, resources and an easy and efficient communication to other agencies, locations or their own agents. It can be a hard task to juggle not only the decision making process for technology implementations, but also the costs, the available resources, administration, best connectivity, internet providers, disaster solutions, system administration as well as the existing and required IT know-how. This paper evaluates the main aspects of what Tempe Police Department needs to consider and assess prior to implementing a new technology system. The main issues that will be addressed and analyzed in this paper are the cost factors, available resources and know-how, third party providers and the benefits and disadvantages of hosting and outsourcing technology systems. In the past decades internet and networks which allow for a fast and simple communication with third parties not always located in the same location or geographic area is becoming a more and more important factor - if not even a required necessity for any government agency trying to manage their data but also able to share and obtain information with other agencies to guarantee an efficient work process. Internet providers and Internet services are available in almost all locations throughout the United States but the cost factor, reliability and feasibility are the main issues that need to be considered when making the choice if technology shall be hosted and maintained internally, collocated or using the services of a professional technology solutions provider and renting technology from them. Reliability and Internet service and the cost thereof is a main issue that needs to be addressed. And that starts with analyzing the existing technical infrastructure and local ISP's. Being located in a large city with the necessary technical infrastructure will provide not only good internet services, a large selection of internet providers but at the same time cheaper prices and a faster connection. On the other hand, if the data is to be stored in a small town with not reliable and very expensive Internet connection, that choice is not feasible, as it will result in high costs, lot of delays, slow access, and most likely lot of time-outs and down-time. Installing a dedicated T1 line to a small business, or as in this case a police station, will be very expensive to acquire and maintain and not as reliable as the fiber optic connections at a data center. In that case the choice will be to use the services of a data center (Shepler, 2007). A data center has to be chosen carefully based on several criteria such as prices, used technology, multiple ISP's, backup, technical support, redundancy solutions as well as Service Level Agreements. After all, they will host hardware and most likely sensitive data and security, network redundancy, protection from fire and earthquakes, backup generators in the case of power outages, closeness to a central hub and multiple network and fiber optic lines from large ISP carriers do to play a major role in the selection process. And a greater network redundancy means maximum up time allowing for critical applications to be up and accessible. Therefore using the services of an established datacenter will provide constant connectivity and greater redundancy without the prohibitive costs. In the event of downtime of servers, the entire network can switch to an alternate site and this outsourced disaster recovery from a data center costs a fraction of what it would to set it up in house (Shepler, 2007). In addition to that the reliability a data center will provide, servers and connectivity are monitored at all times by an onsite technical support force, which can troubleshoot any issues and problems before they lead to a major time-out or technical failure. Technical support is a major issue when dealing with Internet technology. Not only do the servers and network require periodic maintenance but also the technical staff does require constant training to keep up with the latest technologies, vulnerabilities, software and technological advancements. In order to avoid mishaps and technical issues, this staff has to be trained well and the tasks cannot be left to untrained or not experienced staff which main duty and job is not technical related. If non technical and not trained staff handles these issues, these tasks might not only be done with time pressure due to main focus on primary job rather than technology, but also without the required technical background, the chances regular maintenance or simple troubleshooting will lead to technical issues, hardware failure or down-time are high. And that can cost a lot more than using professionals in the first place. The advantage of having IT professionals in a data center handling IT issues, rather than police employees is that tasks can not only be accomplished a lot faster, but also they are more knowledgeable on various IT systems and platforms and hardware and software upgrades, which will result in a well functioning and online system, without a lot of down-time and technical issues (Wheeler, 2000). The data centers offer the advantage of years of experienced and qualified technical personnel working to keep critical systems functioning smoothly around the clock but also, and that is a main financial factor, the actual cost for that does get divided through all data center customers rather than the police department paying various expensive high level professionals. After selecting a data center the main decision process will focus on colocation or dedicated hosting.  Colocation has its advantages such as cheaper costs, but the technical responsibility is not within the data center. This means that the police department will be responsible in the case of hardware failure. Because the police department would own the servers, the monthly fee would be less than renting, as it does not include charges for hardware maintenance and upkeep. Also the monthly price does not include hardware upgrades, licenses, software and insurance, something that you will have to purchase when collocating. If using the option dedicated hosting the server is rented, so the host will replace hard drives or CPUs if they malfunction. And that is a major advantage when calculating costs as well as what technical resources and relationships with vendors the police department might have. On the other hand, the initial costs will be larger because of the server and software purchase, but if the server is good quality and remains in service for a reasonable length of time, the overall costs will be lower with colocation (Keizer 2000, Golick 1999, King 1999). As a result of this analysis the best approach for the police department will be to find a datacenter and hosting company that provides the technology needed and required to meet the technical needs for the application as well as offers the required redundancy to keep the system online at all times. The best solution will be to implement dedicated servers. Based on the fact that the police department stores sensitive information in their databases, the company will have to be cleared to handle sensitive data and will need to sign the required Non-Disclosure Agreements as well as any other relevant agreements to ensure the security and integrity of the data hosted in their location. In addition to that it would be a beneficial to have one, preferably two internal IT professionals, employed by the police department or city, who will have an oversight of the technology and be able to monitor all activities, perform security checks, updates and troubleshooting if required. This can be done on site or remotely and will guarantee that the server is “watched” and maintained by someone who is employed by the government rather than someone from a commercial company or third party. Also, almost all datacenters charge very high prices when it comes to performing on site or remote administration and troubleshooting on customers' servers and these costs can be avoided or minimized by having own employee and IT professionals. The data center troubleshooting services can still be used if the own resources fail but keeping costs at low minimum (Tourloukis, 2006). Considering the fact when hosting technology versus colocation, it offers the advantage of not having to deal with hardware issues and failures, it is strongly recommended for the police department to use this option rather than colocation.  Although the price for hosting in comparison to colocation might be somewhat higher, the technology replacement is provided at no cost and hopefully within a short amount of time. This solution is very advantageous especially if the internal IT staff is not on site and no technology cooperation partners are available where replacement parts can be purchased for cheaper prices. And that is something that the police department or city most likely will not have. With an outsourced data center and dedicated servers, the police department avoids problems of deploying human resources (except the internal administrator) and can expect the highest levels of dedicated service. Qualified technical personnel – with current certifications as well as continuous training – who monitor the networks, servers and hardware 24x7 and prevent an impending problem from blowing up into a crippling crisis are additional advantages of hosting servers in a professional data center over their own location. The physical advantages for hosting in a data center that allows for precision-controlled, air-conditioned environment, 24x7 power back up systems for all equipment, high-level onsite security through surveillance cameras and bio-metrics systems to disallow unauthorized entry are only a few of the advantages and are only a fraction of what it would cost to set them up in-house. Not only have studies shown that using the services of a large data center for dedicated hosting purposes will save cost from 20%-70%, but also the fact that allows for better utilization of local space instead of in-house data center and finally the freedom to focus on the core competencies and not worry about the IT infrastructure are the main reason why the police department should go with a data center and dedicated server hosting