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Data Centre Colocation Checklist: Questions to Ask Before You Choose
Choosing a colocation provider is a long-term infrastructure decision. Rack space matters, but so do connectivity, resilience, physical access, support and the practical realities of operating equipment away from your own premises.
Use this checklist to compare data-centre options consistently and uncover dependencies before signing a contract.
1. Is the location right for your team and users?
Distance affects engineer access, equipment delivery and recovery time. A well-connected London facility may suit national interconnection, while a regional facility can make hands-on support easier for teams based nearby.
Exascale provides data-centre options at its Wolverhampton and Telford facilities and at Telehouse North and Telehouse West in London. The right location depends on where your people, customers, networks and cloud services are based.
2. What space and power are available?
Confirm the rack units, cabinet dimensions, power allocation and expansion options. Ask how power use is measured, which charges are fixed or variable, and whether capacity can increase without moving equipment.
3. How is resilience designed?
Do not rely on a headline description alone. Ask how utility power, UPS systems, generators, cooling and network paths are arranged. Identify any shared components that could affect both the primary and backup service.
4. Which connectivity services can you buy?
A strong colocation plan starts with connectivity. Check the availability of internet access, IP transit, private Layer 2 services, cross-connects and remote peering.
Consider whether you need one carrier or a multi-provider design. Ask how new cross-connects are ordered, delivered and documented.
5. What support is available?
Clarify support hours, escalation routes and remote-hands capability. If your own engineers cannot reach the site quickly, define which physical tasks the provider can perform and how work is authorised.
6. How is physical access controlled?
Understand visitor approval, identity checks, access logs, delivery handling and escort rules. Ask how emergency access works outside normal hours and how former staff or suppliers are removed from access lists.
7. What monitoring and reporting are included?
Useful reporting may include power consumption, environmental conditions, service status and incident updates. Confirm which information is available through a portal and which requires a support request.
8. What does the contract include?
Compare setup fees, recurring rack and power charges, connectivity, cross-connects, support and exit costs. Review minimum terms, notice periods, service levels and the process for removing equipment.
9. Can the design grow?
Plan for additional servers, storage, power and bandwidth. It is usually easier to reserve a clear expansion path at the start than to redesign a deployment under time pressure.
10. What is the migration plan?
Document equipment ownership, backups, IP addressing, routing, DNS, maintenance windows and rollback steps. For critical systems, consider phased migration and temporary parallel connectivity.
Frequently asked questions
What is data-centre colocation?
Colocation places customer-owned equipment in a specialist facility that supplies space, power, cooling, physical security and connectivity options.
Should I choose a regional or London data centre?
A regional facility can improve physical accessibility, while London facilities can offer valuable interconnection options. The best choice depends on operational and network requirements.
How much rack space should I reserve?
Allow for current equipment, cable management, airflow and realistic growth. Power density can become the limiting factor before physical rack space.
Build the checklist around your workload
There is no universal colocation design. Start with application criticality, access needs and network dependencies, then compare facilities against those requirements. Explore Exascale data-centre services or discuss a tailored deployment.