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How to Evaluate a Colocation Provider: A Buyer’s Checklist

June 22, 2026 · Brian

Provider tours are designed to impress. A structured checklist keeps you focused on the questions that actually predict whether a facility will serve you well over a multi-year term.

Power and cooling

  • What power density is available per rack today, and what’s the path higher?
  • Is the redundancy design genuinely N+1 or 2N — and can they prove it?
  • What cooling approach supports higher-density deployments?

Connectivity and ecosystem

  • How many carriers are on-net, and what does cross-connect cost?
  • Are direct cloud on-ramps available?
  • What latency exists to your key adjacencies and users?

Commercial and operational

  • What are the price escalators over the term?
  • What renewal and exit rights does the contract include?
  • What’s the documented SLA, and what’s the remedy when it’s missed?
  • What does the support and remote-hands model actually look like?

Use the checklist as leverage

Running every provider through the same questions does two things: it surfaces the real differences, and it signals that you’re evaluating objectively. Both improve the terms you’ll ultimately negotiate.

Want a neutral party to run this evaluation with you? That’s the core of what we do.

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