How much does it cost to lease a rack in a colocation data centre?
What options are there?
The colocation data centre business is basically a long term lease model, whereby customers lease space in the data centre to locate their server racks.
Customers put their racks in colocation data centres as the colocation provider guarantees, via a Service Level Agreement (SLA), that the space is:
๐น Secure.
๐น The power will stay on, and,
๐น The environment will remain stable.
The bonus is that they can (cross)connect with other companies in the data centre.
๐๐ผ๐ ๐ฑ๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐น๐ ๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ธ?
When leasing space from a colocation provider, the lease agreement is made up of two main parts:
๐น The cost to lease the space. This is usually quoted ‘by the rack’, i.e. we are leasing the space the rack occupies.
๐น The cost of power used.
The cost of power is usually offered as one of 2 models:
1. Bundled power.
2. Pass- through power.
๐๐๐ป๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
This is the the most common model we see in Africa at the moment as it is a legacy system that was easy to implement and manage, in the early days of colocation.
In this option you pay a fixed cost for the rack and your power consumption is based on a tiered pricing model.
For example, if you take a 3kW lease, you can then draw up to 3kW, once you go over this, you will be charge at the next tier, which could be say 6kW.
๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ
In this option, the customer is charged only for the power they use.
For example, if your rack draws 1kW, you pay for 1kW only.
In order to estimate the cost of this power to the data centre, the power usage is multiplied by a cost factor.
Which is usually the PUE x the costs of power/kWh x a factor to cover the cost of running infrastructure. For example, 1.5 x $0.2 x 1.5 = 0.45
๐ช๐ต๐ถ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ถ๐ ๐ฏ๐ฒ๐๐๐ฒ๐ฟ?
Gererally, you won’t have a choice in your colocation data centre, they will offer one or the other.
However, there are ways to ensure you are getting the most from your colocation space.
๐๐๐ป๐ฑ๐น๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ – The average colocation customer uses between 40-60% of their allocated power bundle and I am seeing average colocation loads of ~3kW/rack in Africa.
So, if your on this model, you should be monitoring your IT load to ensure that you are using 70-80% of your allocated power allowance. This will ensure you are using what you are paying for.
๐ฃ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต ๐ฝ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ – Today, this is generally seen as the most cost efficient model to lease colocation space.
The trick here is to interrogate the ‘power cost factor’ BEFORE you sign a contract as it is very hard to change it after that fact, and it will always be going up with inflation, i.e. if you start high, you will go higher.
What colocation cost models are you seeing?