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Getting Colocation Power Just Right

Members of the ISP-Colo list discuss prices for power in colocation data centers. As the market changes, many ISPs are finding "everything is negotiable, even if they say it isn't."

[July 9, 2001]

On the ISP-Colo list in June, BB inquired,

"I just took a tour of a colocation facility today: everything looked great until I saw the pricing.

You get a cabinet for $1100 with 20 Amps, but if you need more, you pay $500 per 20 Amps. And this is not based on actual usage, but on the rated UL sticker on the equipment. So if I have a cabinet with 20 2U servers rated at 6 Amps each, I would need 120 Amps, or five additional 20 Amp drops, which brings the cabinet cost up to $3600 per month.

How many places charge like this? What can I do about it?"

There was some disagreement about whether or not the prices quoted were fair:

[KS observed] "Paying for additional power is not unusual, but $500 for 20 Amps is. Most colo facilities are just going to pass on the cost of what they pay the power company, and won't try to profit off the additional power. I think you're getting ripped off."

[SP countered] "We charge roughly $400 per additional 20 Amp feed per month. If you have 1 or 2U servers, you'll have to add more power. Do you think power is free?"

A number of respondents noted that gauging usage by the sticker on the equipment is always a bad idea

[JP advised] "I can't imagine they are charging based on what the sticker says. As long as you don't turn all your gear on at once, you can fit a ton on 20 Amps."

[BN added] "Your equipment will tend to draw the most power on startup, when all of the drives and fans spool up, etc. From there, the draw will drop significantly. I just had several cabinets tested for a client, and even on startup, none of his equipment came within 75% of the stickered draw. From there, most of the equipment's draw fell another 50%. The only reason I can think of to look at the stickers is in case something happens to the power in these facilities, so when they turn up your equipment, they can turn it all on at the same time and the breaker will not go off."

[AM warned] "You do not need as much power as you think you do. Reading the back of your equipment will not help you understand how much power you will consume. We have never found anyone using more than 6 Amps at 110V, and this includes racks full of 1U servers running hard."

Others suggested that the colo provider is likely to be flexible about the arrangement:

[BV offered] "All the colos that I've dealt with claim to go by the sticker, but I've never seen anyone check when I install my equipment."

[FL recalled] "My colo provider wanted to charge me $300 for an additional 15 Amp circuit; I got them down to $100. And we are in California. They want to use the sticker because that is several times higher than actual usage. Don't take the first price they throw out, and remember that everything is negotiable, even if they say it isn't. The colo market isn't what it was a year ago: most facilities will take whatever they can get to cover their fixed costs."

[SC agreed] "Like everything else in colocation, power pricing is negotiable. When going over pricing for space, I have the rates locked into the lease, with no escalations allowed unless the provider receives (and can prove) a substantial rate hike from the power company."

SD noted that it's all about maintaining the right balance between actual and potential usage:

"There is a lot of variation in how people charge for power. None of them really know what you will plug in, so they have to go on your word. If you don't know how much you will use, how should they guess?

Most of the cost isn't the power itself, but the keeping power available anytime you may use it. There are some colo providers that try to second-guess the customer. They will sell the customer 100 Amps, bill them, and then measure to see how much is left over so they can sell it again to another customer.

But you can kill your entire facility if the 100 Amp customer shows up six months later with a huge switch and really draws the 100 Amps. It's the tale of the three bears: you don't want too much power, you don't want too little power, you want just the right amount."

—End