Web Hosting Talk : Web Hosting Main Forums : Colocation and Data Centers : Renting Space?

[Bilco105]

I have heard of companys that rent large spaces from datacenters. Who does someone that wants to start something like that talk to? Lets say the person wants to set up cabinets in a datacenter, how would they go about doing that? I know is a larger scale business but Im curious how somone goes about doing all of that. Thanks!

[mj4589]

Just contact the datacenter directly. Usually they have large minimum commits and don't want to deal with "small fish", which is why they have resellers, and will actually refer you to their resellers.

[clients4sale2005]

If you are looking at purchasing multiple racks or cages contact the datacenter directly. However, if you want to purchase a single rack and resell U's then you should contact someone who already has multiple racks in the datacenter. Where are you looking at?

[aplawson]

Originally posted by levidjkt
I have heard of companys that rent large spaces from datacenters. Who does someone that wants to start something like that talk to? Lets say the person wants to set up cabinets in a datacenter, how would they go about doing that? I know is a larger scale business but Im curious how somone goes about doing all of that. Thanks!

Email me and if you want to, I'll call you on the phone. We JUST finished going through all that and are amazed we didn't make the plunge sooner.

Learned heaps of things we never knew a lick about before, but that's why we hired some Cisco and PIX engineer types.

Contact me- I'd be happy to give you the skinny from a been-there-done-that perspective.

[rusko]

you can either rent cabinets/racks (supplied by the facility) or cage/floor space and provide your own racks/cabs (some facilities will require you to purchase those from them). in the latter scenario you may also have to pay for electrical installation work to wire them up.

in both cases asking the facility itself never hurts. companies with a large footprint in the given facility will often (not always) be able to offer better pricing and will often be able to provide better service to go along with it.

tell us a bit more about what you're trying to do, please, so we can answer your questions in a more specific/useful manner.

paul

[IRCCo Jeff]

levidjkt,

You would need to be quite large to get a decent price from building management directly. Even those of us who have cage space and/or a number of cages are often building out into other companies space (eg. at the moment we tend to use a good amount of XO floor space in a couple of datacenters). As Paul mentioned, doing this prevents you from having to shell out $10-20k or more for electric installs.

The cost of floor space gets much, much higher in the NYC market (compare costs of roughly $10 - 20/sqft/mo in some markets to around $50/sqft/mo in many buildings in NYC). Then there's the issue of unions; I think Paul is best qualified to tell you how they do business

[rusko]

oh yes. union workers should really hand clients vaseline each time they hand us an invoice. it's legal organized crime, i tell you (if you're a union member, please don't hurt me).

paul

[Brevitel]

Renting space from a data center provider is not new. It certainly alleviates the capital you would have to spend to build it.

I would contact the facility itself. Data center companies are driven to sell space, if you have a bigger foot print, they'll get aggressive on pricing. Depending on your setup, you will have to pay for power runs and maybe even cross connects to your equipment. You also need to think about access...do you need 24x7 or not. If you do, you need to rent your own space from a colo provider. If you don't, you can rent space from another hosting company taking space from the data center itself.

[Bilco105]

What is pricing on that all everything? Where do I get the connections to router me netwrok all together from? I still have a lot of questions before I start to plan all of this. What is a "starting" number of cabinets to get and how much do you think it will all cost? What is peering? These are all random questions I know. Thanks!

[RSanders]

I've had servers all across the country before I even found space 5 minutes from my house. Then, I started buying up space and making relationship's that took it farther.

The phone is the answer to your question. Pick it up, and call everyone. That's pretty much what I did.

[Jaybirdsmith]

http://www.digitalrealtytrust.com

They own nothing but Datacenters and Telecom buildings.

[Bilco105]

Anyone have some pricing examples on this process? What would 5 cabinets cost, on 'average'?

[buba69]

You could easily pay $2500 - $7500 per month or more for a 5 cabinet setup depending on where you are and who you are buying from. Then there will be setup charges (usually equal to one month). Then you will have to consider power (some places will only give you a single 20amp circuit, others will let you have whatever type of power you want, some include power, others charge for it.

All of the above is just for the space. Then you will have to think about connectivity. In a DC such as level3 you will be pretty much locked to their bandwidth, other smaller DCs will be locked into whatever banwidth they have available. If you go to a large telco carrier neutral building/datacenter you will have many more options.

Oh - and dont forget about access to your equipment and onsite staff. Again there are many ranges for this and you will have to go with a place that will cater to your needs.

Sounds like you have many questions. I would recommend placing a few calls to a few different datacenters to start your ball rolling. Sales people are usually very willing to answer questions and you will start to get a better picture of who has what to offer.

DO NOT GO WITH THE FIRST COMPANY YOU CALL until you have at least called 1 or 2 other companies to get quotes. You have a wide market to choose from unless you are looking in a small city or for a very specific setup.

Originally posted by levidjkt
Anyone have some pricing examples on this process? What would 5 cabinets cost, on 'average'?

[Bilco105]

Thanks for the tips. Where do you guys all buy from? Im curious

[eger]

we buy space in http://marketposttower.com/ they sell anything from single cabs to large cage spaces. dont pass them up if your looking for space in the San Jose area.