Two different starting points.
Colocation provides physical space and agreed facility services for equipment you own or control. Rented compute provides access to computing resources through a provider’s service. The operating responsibilities and commercial terms depend on the actual agreement.
- Your hardware in colocation
- The facility search follows your cabinets, power, cooling, connectivity and installation requirements. You still need a plan for operating and supporting the equipment.
- Rented computing capacity
- The selection starts with workloads, required hardware or performance, software compatibility, data location, access and the provider’s service terms.
- A combination
- Some projects use their own equipment alongside rented resources. Your technical team needs to define how data, connectivity, security and operations work across them.
Compare responsibilities before prices.
Two offers can cover very different things. Record which party owns the equipment, supplies the facility services, operates the systems and responds when something needs attention.
- Equipment and operations
- Who provides, configures, maintains and replaces the hardware? What support is included, and what must your team arrange?
- Location and data
- Where will equipment or data be located? What connectivity, access, security and data-handling requirements must be reviewed?
- Capacity and availability
- What is committed to your project, when can it be used, and what is shared, conditional or subject to later availability?
- Term and flexibility
- How long is the commitment, how is usage charged, and what happens when you increase, reduce or stop using the service?
For AI workloads, specify the deployment.
GPU or other accelerator requirements belong in the technical brief. If you will install equipment, the facility must be assessed against its power, cooling, physical and network requirements.
If you will rent capacity, ask your team to assess the proposed hardware, software environment, service availability and workload performance. A hardware name alone does not establish the result for your application.
- State the workload and the hardware or performance requirements your team has identified.
- Separate a short trial from a sustained production requirement.
- Record the data, connectivity and location constraints that affect the choice.
Compare costs on a common basis.
Define the same workload, timeframe and scope before comparing proposals. Keep assumptions visible, including any existing equipment or commitments. There is no universal rule that one arrangement will cost less.
- For colocation
- Consider equipment, installation, space, power charging, connectivity, support, maintenance and eventual removal or replacement.
- For rented compute
- Consider capacity or usage charges, commitment terms, storage, data transfer, networking, support and any reserved resources.
- For either approach
- Check what is excluded, how charges can change, what happens if capacity is unavailable and how you would leave the arrangement.
Where Rivermark fits.
Rivermark’s service is finding physical data-centre space, gathering provider information and arranging introductions. Your technical team decides which computing arrangement meets the workload and reviews the proposed systems.
If your project needs a facility for its own equipment, share the locations, type of space and target dates. If that decision is still open, use the questions above with your technical adviser before defining the search.
Further reading.
- Colocation products and services — EquinixAn operator’s explanation of space for customer-owned equipment. Availability and terms vary by facility.
- What is cloud computing? — AWSAn introduction to accessing computing services from a provider.
- GPU instances — AWSAn example of rented GPU computing. Hardware, software and availability must be checked with the provider.
Published by Rivermark Property Ltd. General information; individual facility and service arrangements need to be confirmed.