I'm basically just dreaming at this point but it's fun so I'm gonna ask anway ;). First off... what are some good places to co-locate a server. You see plenty about shared hosting and dedicated servers but noone ever mentions anything ( much ) about co-location services. Ideally, I would like to build my own server(s) and co-locate them or even have them admin'd somewhere, but I don't want to pay $X / month for X amount of ram that's going to be paid off in 2 months, or $X / month for a faster processor or whatever.. you get the idea. I'm looking of course, for the complete package in a co-lo host.. good bandwidth prices and excellent support.

More thoughts...I'm kind of clueless when it comes to co-lo hosting.. would I be expected to load my own operating system and have it all setup before I send it to them or are they going to want to load something that they are firmiliar with? Or are they usually strictly providing connectivity and reboots? Generally speaking that is.

Last but definately not least.. where can you buy inexpensive rack mount cases? I'm beginning to think they don't exist, even a very basic 1U seems to run at least $150 no matter where you go ( been looking all night ). And do they require special hardware.. specifically motherboards? Also.. what are PCI riser cards.. do they make it so the card(s) can sit horizontally parallel w/ the case?

Sorry! I know this is a lot of questions but if you would please comment on the ones that arent too time consuming, I would greatly appreciate it. Enlighten me.

Thanks,
JDF

Well, from what i've seen. Good places to get hardware: www.online-spectrum.com www.qsol.com, and good places to colo, www.rackmy.com (Inflow datacenter) www.affordablecolo.com (colo4dallas). Both have been said to have exceptional support and a great network. In the way of the pre-configuration needed, I think you'd need an OS installed before you send it off (which qsol and onlinespectrum would take care of if you want), but the data center should set it up with necessary network settings. :) Hope that helped give you an idea.

One thing you forgot to ask : is the company profitable? I believe you will find this will kill many of thc companies out there and we have all heard the amy horror stories about people goign bankrupt and having server outages and emergenvy moves - many will tell you - "well we have plenty of moeny and we are fully funded" this is hog wash - this just means they have money in the bank that they are burning through and we all know this does not make a stable company - there have been many well funded business go away lately - you can not afford to take that risk with your primary provider.

http://www.venturesonline.com is the best place to go, they don't offer the best price but offer the best support and the most professional services.