Sorry for not making it more clear, but I did not mean to suggest that is merely a binary option. Yes, firms can co-locate their equipment in other firms DCs b

Sorry for not making it more clear, but I did not mean to suggest that is merely a binary option. Yes, firms can co-locate their equipment in other firms DCs but its not a silver bullet either. You still run up heavy costs associated with renting the physical space, and hardware maintenance. If we're talking about a company of significant size that is going to be part of a paradigmatic shift -- the cost/benefit of co-locating doesn't scale well (and that's why you'll see many sizable non pure tech companies that own and operate their own DCs)