after doing a pretty long search for co-lo providers i'v come to this conclusion: the hosting world is backwords! ok before you guys/gals flame me, here's what i mean;

the avg cost for a dedicated server is any where from $89 (don't buy this, it's not worth your time in most cases) to $300 or more.
now for a provider to offer this he must supply all hardware + much,if not all, of the software, bandwidth and oh, yes, tech support, right? (in some cases i use this term loosely ) :)
now here's the wierd part :confused:
there is nearly nothing to hooking up a colo, just plug server in and away they go, right. i mean host doesn't need to pay for hardware (the server i mean, not rack and or switches or anything like that) nor anything else, in most cases not even tech support.
SO WHY ARE HOSTS CHARGING MORE FOR COLO????
i mean it's easy money right? sure charge for bandwidth and maybe even a small rack charge. but some host want to charge a $300 setup fee to mount & plug in darn server! get real.
just my 2 cents and blowing off steam. chow
deeboy

Good question. I myself have wondered this a couple times. I can understand why dedicated servers often have a big setup (the host is usually dishing out a fair amount of money for the hardware). However, this is not the case with colos. I think anything more than $50 is too much for a basic colo setup (that basically means allocating the IPs, mounting the server, and plugging it in).

The exception to this is if you expect the host to install the OS and software on the colo. Usually (at least in my experience), it takes a LOT more time to do this on a colo (compatibility issues mainly) than on a dedicated server (where the host knows the hardware will work).

Money

Originally posted by Farmer
Money
HIT THE NAIL ON THE HEAD! LOL!
ALL THEY WANT IS MONEY! JUST LIKE EVERYONE ELSE!:D

You made a valid point. However, I have worked with a colo straight out of a UUNet location before and there is a difference.

The company you are sending the hardware to is keeping it under lock and key, so not only are they giving you a line to the net, but they are keeping storage of your hardware. So in many ways you are not just paying for your net access, but also physical security of your goods.

Don't get me wrong I am not excusing the outrageous pricing of most colo racks or cabinets, but I cannot see how colo's would be cheaper then dedicated by any means. If you are given a rack at a location, you can have more than 1 server and 1 switch there. You are taking up more space then having 1 dedicated server that is SHARING a switch with others. I am sure if you got a quote for a full rack of servers in the dedicated server farms it would blow the pants off of a rack in a colo environment.

Just my 25 cents.

Maybe this will help, it's taken right off the Burst.net website and it's referring to setup fees.

This helps cover the costs of racks/shelves, switches, uninterruptible power supplies, KVM switches, remote boot hardware, and wiring.

I think it is fair to ask for a certain amount to cover thee items, and a minimum amount monthly as the server is taking up space in the datacenter. I think on the low end, colo doesn't save you much money, rather you get to build up exactly how you want it.

There are also some great lease deals, and that makes it look worse. I know that when I *bought* my server, there weren't any of these $99 lease deals, and shortly after I was kicking myself!

hi, thanks for the very good reponces, everyone. in my case all i need is for the host to mount my 1u rackmount server and connect it to a burstable network connection, not install os or anything. also they would need to allocate ip's and do the dns thing. this should not cost $300 in setup fees. in fact i would be using a spot that the host would NOT have sold, and therefore it's actually money for unsold rackspace. now as far as bandwidth; of course i expact host to turn a profit, but not take my first born:)
after an exhasting web search, so far the best prices i've found is site5 where they charge a $75 setup fee (reasonable) $45 for rack space and you pay for bw you need. now if only the sales department and matt could get their act together and respond to my emails :) cheers all
deeboy

Originally posted by Get-Hosted.com
Maybe this will help, it's taken right off the Burst.net website and it's referring to setup fees.
"This helps cover the costs of racks/shelves, switches, uninterruptible power supplies, KVM switches, remote boot hardware, and wiring"


But the point is: Colo should be much cheaper because bandwitdth and rackspace is the same compared to a dedicated but you don't have to provide OS installation, control panels, and and and...

Originally posted by Walter


But the point is: Colo should be much cheaper because bandwitdth and rackspace is the same compared to a dedicated but you don't have to provide OS installation, control panels, and and and...

... the server itself. Most dedicated servers cost over $1000 for the hardware alone. With a colocated server, the host pays nothing for the hardware, instead of having to include that $1000 in the setup and monthly fees to recover their initial investment.

I was actually putting together our colo specs while reading this the other day, and yes colo should be cheaper.

Overall you will pay for bandwith and your space you take up. Overall your space is rack real estate.

You will probably get basic support and have options to get higher end support.

Your costs should be

Bandwith
Space
Setup Fee

And Bigger Support pacakges, if need be..

Joe

I've got a quote from Navisite hanging on my wall. One of my colleagues shared it with me. I look at it whenever anyone tells me that our prices for co-lo are too high, or that we are only in it for the money.

For 1/2 Cabinet with 2GB Basic Weekly Tape Backup, 4 100Mbps switched Ethernet ports, .5Mbps Bandwidth Usage:

Setup: 4,100.00

Monthly Fee: 3,075.00

They charge 1500.00 for the Ethernet ports' set up charges, 600.00 for the cabinet set up fees. (What, they label the ports on the switch and dust out the cabinet first?)

And this is over and above the rest of the quote which is for server lease of 2 app servers and 1 database server (Setup fees just for the machines-1500.00-same as the port setup fees).

What really gets me is that they charge a 250.00 setup fee for a monitor, keyboard, a switch to allow them to be shared by all three machines, and cables. And then charge 132.00 a month for all this stuff-it's for a 2 year contract. Those few items end up costing 3,418.00 by the end of the contract.

Once all of the charges for the servers and the hosting are added up:

Setup: 13,400.00

Monthly fees: 8,623.00

Over 2 years that's a grand total of $220,352.00

Now, who's in it for the money?

Originally posted by Phoenix
I've got a quote from Navisite hanging on my wall. One of my colleagues shared it with me. I look at it whenever anyone tells me that our prices for co-lo are too high, or that we are only in it for the money.

For 1/2 Cabinet with 2GB Basic Weekly Tape Backup, 4 100Mbps switched Ethernet ports, .5Mbps Bandwidth Usage:

Setup: 4,100.00

Monthly Fee: 3,075.00

They charge 1500.00 for the Ethernet ports' set up charges, 600.00 for the cabinet set up fees. (What, they label the ports on the switch and dust out the cabinet first?)

And this is over and above the rest of the quote which is for server lease of 2 app servers and 1 database server (Setup fees just for the machines-1500.00-same as the port setup fees).

What really gets me is that they charge a 250.00 setup fee for a monitor, keyboard, a switch to allow them to be shared by all three machines, and cables. And then charge 132.00 a month for all this stuff-it's for a 2 year contract. Those few items end up costing 3,418.00 by the end of the contract.

Once all of the charges for the servers and the hosting are added up:

Setup: 13,400.00

Monthly fees: 8,623.00

Over 2 years that's a grand total of $220,352.00

Now, who's in it for the money?

Hot damn! That is more expensive then I experienced with UUNet or AT&T. What are they thinking? Do they have racks/cabinets of gold?

seems to me that these prices are from the past. these prices was from when it cost you more to provide the above listed services. this is simple common sense;
i would not buy a hot dog for the same price as a hot dog on a bun. of course this over simplifies but you shound get the point.
CASE 1:
host pays for all hardware and SUPPORT TEAM (over long run by far the largest cost.) and therefore commands a higher price for his services. customer pays for;
setup
bandwidth
any extras

CASE 2:
host only pays for (for arguement sake) whole rack lease and other asst hardware, the same as host would in case 1, and provides no other hardware or support. customer pays for;
server and os setup
server shipping
support
bandwidth
any extras like ips dns, you get the point.
so since client pays a larger share of project, they should be charged less and reap larger share of reward :D

SPECIAL NOTE:
case 2 makes more money per sq inch of rack space because of the lack of needing to hire certified (lol) system admins. anyone that runs a legit biz can tell you this can be very costly!
just my two cents :stickout
deeboy

I also think the price depends on the market a colo company is trying to snag. The companies that charge 2 arms and 1 leg for their services are looking for the larger corps as customers.

Originally posted by deeboy
seems to me that these prices are from the past.

The past in Internet time, perhaps, but in real calendar time, only a couple of months ago.

Well after the dotcom bubble burst and belts began to be tightened at the VC funded, IPO'd big-ticket hosting providers who focused on that market, such as Navisite, Exodus and Genuity.

These companies charge outrageous hosting fees, and help to increase the burn rate of VC funded companies, and to pay off the tremendous debts they incur building their fort knox-like facilities, as well as the marketing they do. They operate on the principal of 'all the traffic will bear'. And 'if it costs more it must be better'.

SPECIAL NOTE:
case 2 makes more money per sq inch of rack space because of the lack of needing to hire certified (lol) system admins. anyone that runs a legit biz can tell you this can be very costly!


That's for sure. New co-los usully tie one of our sysadmins up all afternoon. That's why we charge a set up fee, to pay for his time while he helps them configure their servers on site, troubleshoots their problems, etc. If the servers came in pre-configured, ready to go, 'plug and play' as it were, there'd be no need for much of a fee.

From my experience, some dedicated host make profit by cheating on traffic. Once you have significant amount of traffic, it's hard to actually tell whether you have been over charged by 10GB. A machine's hardware cost just a few hundred dollars. In my experience, that's one month of cheating income when they over charge you by $500+.

Can we *skip* over that topic and just continue with the thread? I don't want to see another repeat of threads which have been locked.