UK colocation is a mature market — Equinix, Digital Realty, Telehouse, Pulsant, ARK, IONOS, Custodian and 20+ regional operators — so the hard part is not finding a data centre but knowing which one to pick. The right choice depends on connectivity needs, power density, geographic resilience, and price model. This is the procurement framework Servnet uses with mid-market UK colo customers.
The 8 procurement criteria
These are the decision factors we run through with every UK colo selection.
- •1. Geographic location — London Docklands (LD) for trading/FS; M25 for broad enterprise; regional (Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham) for resilience. Distance from primary office matters for hands-and-eyes response.
- •2. Tier certification — Tier III or Tier IV (Uptime Institute). Tier III = 99.982% uptime; Tier IV = 99.995%.
- •3. Power density supported — standard 4-8 kW/rack covers most. AI / HPC needs 20-60 kW/rack + liquid cooling.
- •4. Connectivity ecosystem — which carriers + cloud on-ramps (AWS Direct Connect, Azure ExpressRoute, Google Cloud Interconnect)? Cross-connect cost is real.
- •5. Cooling — DX vs adiabatic vs liquid. PUE under 1.4 = good; under 1.2 = excellent.
- •6. Physical security — 24/7 manned, biometric access, mantraps, CCTV retention.
- •7. Compliance certifications — ISO 27001, ISO 50001 (energy), SOC 2 Type II, PCI-DSS Service Provider, NIST CSF.
- •8. Commercial model — power per kW vs per rack vs all-inclusive. Long-term contract discount vs flexibility.
The UK colo market structure
Tier 1 international: Equinix, Digital Realty, NTT, CyrusOne — global footprint + premium cross-connect ecosystems. Premium pricing.
Tier 2 UK-focused: Telehouse, Pulsant, ARK, Iomart — strong UK coverage + competitive pricing + UK-team accountability.
Regional / specialist: Custodian (NE), 11:11 Systems, various sub-regional operators.
Hyperscale-adjacent: AWS Direct Connect locations, Azure ExpressRoute Premium peering — best for cloud-native + hybrid architectures.
View the data behind this chart
| Own kit + colo | Rented racks | Bare-metal cloud | |
|---|---|---|---|
| CapEx | High | Mid | Low |
| OpEx | Low | Mid | High |
| Refresh control | Full | Full | None |
| Scale-up speed | Weeks | Days | Minutes |
| Best for | Long-term | Mid-term | Bursty |
What Servnet does
Servnet doesn't own colo capacity. We act as buyer-side advisor + colo procurement + ongoing managed colo operations (remote hands + hardware refresh + connectivity management). Established relationships with all major UK colo operators + net pricing negotiation.
Typical engagement: 1) workload + connectivity requirements scoping (including server sizing), 2) 5-operator shortlist with sized commercial bid, 3) site visits + technical due diligence, 4) commercial negotiation + contract review, 5) migration + cutover support — see our colo-vs-cloud TCO model and UK partner vetting framework for related buying context.