🏒 Colocation

Carrier-Dense, Compliant, and Ready for Interconnect

SolveForce Colocation places your infrastructure inside carrier-neutral, high-availability data centers with dense interconnect options, audited compliance, and expert remote hands. You get space, power, cooling, and securityβ€”plus direct access to carriers, IXPs, cloud on-ramps, and partnersβ€”without building your own facility.

Where this fits: πŸ–§ Networks & Data Centers β†’ Networks & Data Centers β€’ ☁️ Cloud β†’ Cloud β€’ 🌐 Connectivity β†’ Connectivity


🎯 Why Colocation

  • Carrier density & choice β€” multiple ISPs and network operators in one building; negotiate price/perf and design dual paths.
  • Cloud proximity β€” private on-ramps to AWS/Azure/GCP for low, stable latency. β†’ Direct Connect β€’ AWS β€’ Azure β€’ GCP
  • Compliance & audits β€” SOC 2/ISO 27001 facilities with layered physical security; HIPAA/PCI DSS support.
  • Time-to-value β€” deploy in weeks, not months; avoid construction CapEx.
  • Interconnect hub β€” peer with partners, IXPs, and SaaS providers inside the same building.
  • Remote hands β€” 24Γ—7 on-site techs to rack/stack, cable, swap, or reboot gear.

🧱 Space Options (What You Can Lease)

  • Cabinets (42–52U) β€” locked racks with A/B power, structured cabling, and monitoring.
  • Cages β€” fenced, keyed, and badge-controlled multi-rack footprints.
  • Private suites β€” dedicated rooms with custom access policies and branding.
  • Staging/warehouse β€” secure receiving, inventory, and burn-in areas (site dependent).

Infrastructure add-ons: Racks & Power β†’ Racks & PDUs β€’ Structured Cabling β†’ Structured Cabling


⚑ Power, ❄️ Cooling & πŸ”₯ Fire Protection

  • Power β€” dual utility feeds (where available), UPS (double-conversion), generator backup, A/B PDUs to each rack; metered kW billing.
  • Cooling β€” hot/cold aisle containment, CRAH/CRAC units, economizers; liquid cooling options for dense GPU/AI.
  • Fire β€” early warning smoke detection (VESDA) and clean-agent systems (FM-200/Novec 1230) with zoned suppression.

Uptime targets often align to TIA-942 / Uptime Institute levels:

  • Tier I: N (basic) β€’ Tier II: N+1 (redundant components) β€’ Tier III: concurrently maintainable β€’ Tier IV: 2N/2(N+1) (fault tolerant)

πŸ”— Interconnect & Meet-Me Room (MMR)

  • Cross-connects β€” short fiber/copper runs between your rack and carriers/partners in the MMR (Meet-Me Room).
  • Fiber (SMF/MMF LC/MPO), copper (Cat6A), and coax (for select services).
  • Internet & IP Transit β€” blend carriers for price/performance; Anycast/BGP for resilience. β†’ BGP Management
  • Peering & IXPs β€” exchange routes with local networks for lower latency and lower cost.
  • Cloud on-ramps β€” AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, Google Interconnect. β†’ Direct Connect

🌐 Connectivity Mix (Bring or Buy)

  • DIA / Ethernet β€” dedicated Internet access or point-to-point circuits. β†’ Fiber Internet
  • Wavelength (DWDM) β€” 10G/100G/400G optical waves for deterministic DCI. β†’ Wavelength Services
  • MPLS / VPLS β€” private WAN services with QoS or L2 extension. β†’ MPLS β€’ VPLS
  • SD-WAN/SASE underlays β€” diverse Internet, 5G/LTE, fixed wireless. β†’ SD-WAN β€’ SASE β€’ Fixed Wireless β€’ Mobile Connectivity

πŸ”’ Physical Security & Facility Access

  • Perimeter & lobby β€” staffed 24Γ—7, visitor verification, anti-tailgating.
  • Multi-factor access β€” badge + biometric + PIN; mantraps to data halls.
  • CCTV β€” continuous recording; retention per audit policy.
  • Audit trails β€” visitor logs, cage/cabinet entry, and work orders tied to tickets.

Typical certifications (facility-dependent): SOC 1/2, ISO 27001, ISO 9001, PCI DSS; HIPAA-aligned processes; some offer FedRAMP-ready suites.
β†’ Your app/data compliance still requires logical controls (encryption, IAM, DLP, etc.). See Cybersecurity


🧭 DCIM, Monitoring & Remote Hands

  • DCIM β€” real-time power, temperature, humidity, and door/asset monitoring; alarms feed our NOC. β†’ NOC Services
  • Remote hands β€” smart-hands for cable moves, module swaps, media changes, and inventory checks.
  • Inventory & labels β€” asset tags, RU positions, cable IDs, port maps; keep β€œas-builts” under version control.

🧯 Resilience Design (What Good Looks Like)

  • Diversity β€” separate entrances, conduits, POPs, and bridge crossings for primary/secondary routes.
  • Cross-connect redundancy β€” dual MMR runs and diverse carriers.
  • Power β€” A/B feeds at rack and PDU; monitor load per phase.
  • Cooling β€” maintain hot/cold discipline; blanking panels; proper RU density.
  • Fire β€” zone awareness for cages; plan for clean-agent discharge procedures.
  • Docs & drills β€” MOP/SOP/EOP for change, maintenance, and emergencies.

For deterministic DCI between sites, consider Wavelength; for metro mesh, build ROADM/optical rings. β†’ Wavelength Services


☁️ Hybrid & Multicloud Patterns

  • Private + public β€” keep sensitive or high-IOPS apps near storage in colo; burst or extend into public cloud via on-ramps.
  • Direct-to-SaaS β€” private peering to critical SaaS providers when available; keep origins private behind WAF/IAM.
  • Backup & DR β€” immutable backups to a separate colo or cloud; DRaaS runbooks with tested failover. β†’ Cloud Backup β€’ DRaaS

🧠 Security Overlay (Shared Responsibility)

  • Segmentation β€” macro zones (DMZ, app, DB) and microsegmentation around crown-jewel workloads. β†’ Microsegmentation
  • Identity β€” ZTNA for engineers; PAM for elevated tasks; NAC for local access. β†’ ZTNA β€’ PAM β€’ NAC
  • Crypto β€” TLS everywhere, at-rest encryption; central Key Management/HSM. β†’ Encryption β€’ Key Management / HSM
  • Detection β€” SIEM/SOAR + NDR/EDR for event correlation and automated response. β†’ SIEM / SOAR β€’ NDR β€’ EDR / MDR / XDR

πŸ“¦ Migration Playbook (Low-Risk Moves)

  1. Discover β€” inventory gear, circuits, dependencies; build L2/L3 diagrams.
  2. Design β€” reserve racks, PDUs, cross-connects; order circuits/on-ramps; plan IP schemas.
  3. Stage β€” pre-cable and label; test power/console; pre-configure.
  4. Move phase β€” windowed cutovers; change freezes; rollback paths; carrier presence confirmed.
  5. Validate β€” synthetics for app journeys; throughput tests; failover drills.
  6. Document β€” as-builts, ports/optics lists, serials, labels, photos; update CMDB.
  7. Operate β€” hand to NOC; log facility contacts, smart-hands procedures, and access rules.

πŸ’΅ Commercials & Ordering

  • Space β€” cabinets (per rack) or cages/suites (per sq-ft); minimum terms apply.
  • Power β€” metered or committed kW; overage policy; A/B feeds priced separately.
  • Cross-connects β€” NRC for install, MRC per pair; fiber/copper rates differ.
  • Remote hands β€” hourly blocks or per-ticket.
  • Diversity letters & route maps β€” request from carriers to prove physical separation.

βœ… Pre-Engagement Checklist

  • πŸ“ Site & footprint β€” racks/cage/suite count, RU plan, growth room.
  • ⚑ Power β€” A/B feed size (kW) per rack; total capacity; breaker size; PDUs.
  • ❄️ Cooling density β€” W per rack; hot/cold plan; blanking panels.
  • πŸ”— Interconnect β€” carriers, IXPs, on-ramps; cross-connect types/quantities.
  • πŸ”’ Security/compliance β€” required audits and visitor processes.
  • 🧰 Remote hands β€” tasks, SLAs, and escalation contacts.
  • πŸ“¦ Logistics β€” shipping/receiving, secure storage, move windows, loading dock.
  • πŸ§ͺ Turn-up tests β€” power failover, cross-connect light levels, latency baselines.

πŸ”„ Where Colocation Fits (Recursive View)

1) Grammar β€” adds carrier-neutral paths and cross-connects β†’ Connectivity
2) Syntax β€” hosts compute/storage with cloud on-ramps β†’ Cloud
3) Semantics β€” enforces physical security & audit trails β†’ Cybersecurity
4) Pragmatics β€” supports AI and BI pipelines with stable latency β†’ SolveForce AI
5) Foundation β€” consistent naming and diagrams under language-first governance β†’ Primacy of Language
6) Map β€” cataloged across services in the living index β†’ SolveForce Codex


πŸ“ž Get a Colocation Design & Quote

Related pages:
Networks & Data Centers β€’ On-Prem Data Centers β€’ Edge Data Centers β€’ Hyperscale Data Centers β€’ Direct Connect β€’ Wavelength Services β€’ Racks & PDUs β€’ Structured Cabling β€’ NOC Services β€’ Knowledge Hub


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