Colocation cabinets help you to organize and secure your data assets, including servers and other IT equipment, within the data center. To best tailor the colocation space to your business needs, the data center provider should offer a range of colocation cabinet options. The solution should ultimately suit your equipment, cooling and connectivity requirements – and be agile enough to meet the needs of your evolving IT infrastructure.
We’ve included key considerations for your colocation deployment – here’s the top questions you should be asking your colocation provider to ensure the provider’s colocation cabinets meet the needs of your infrastructure.
Does the provider offer fractional colocation space options?
Fractional colocation cabinets are becoming more important as infrastructure needs evolve. The ability to provision 10U or 21U of colocation space can mean substantial cost savings – particularly if you do not require multiple cabinets of colocation space.
To what specifications have the colocation cabinets been manufactured?
This one may seem obvious – but colocation cabinet manufacturers make hundreds of different sized cabinets. Be sure you know what your provider’s standards are – including height / width / depth – so that you know your equipment will fit within the existing cabinet footprint.
Data center providers should collaborate with you to ensure your colocation configuration is suitable for your needs.
Does the provider allow you to deploy your colocation environment in phases?
Data centers that allow you to phase your colocation deployments will likely be the most flexible providers to work with.
Perhaps you are moving data centers and require contiguous cabinets, but aren’t quite ready to relocate all of your servers in one move. Perhaps you need to ramp your deployment in phases while launching a new product line. Whatever the reason, a colocation provider that is willing to work with you to phase your deployment is a great sign of a healthy partnership.
What is the rated floor weight limit for colocation cabinets?
Rated floor weight limits will vary by the type of floor within the data center. The rated floor weight limit for many raised-floor data centers is 250 lbs. per square foot. Rated floor weights for non-raised floors will vary by facility.
If this is a concern, be sure you are aware of the weight of your existing equipment so that specific configurations can be discussed as needed. In many cases additional support can be provided to support weight limits in excess of standard rated capacity.
Looking to learn more about your colocation deployment options? Click here for our full range of colocation considerations.
