Expert answers

Clear answers to the questions IT teams actually ask — network, data center, connectivity, cabling. Price benchmarks are drawn live from our catalog of 6,558 data centers (updated 2026-09-15).

Colocation & data center

• What is a cross-connect in a data center?
• How much does a cross-connect cost?
• How much does a rack cost in a data center?
• What is a rack unit (U) and how many fit in a rack?
• How many kVA should you plan for a rack?
• What is a meet-me room (MMR)?
• Colocation or cloud: which should you choose?
• What do data center Tiers (I–IV) mean?
• What is smart hands in a data center?
• What is colocation in a data center?
• Where should you host a physical server?
• What is a data center’s PUE?
• How does a data center secure its power supply?
• What is the French HDS certification?
• Sovereignty and the CLOUD Act: how do they affect data center choice?
• High-density and GPU colocation: what are the constraints?
• Data center contract terms: what should you negotiate?
• What is free cooling in a data center?
• What does a data center’s ISO 27001 certification guarantee?
• What power density per rack is normal today?

Connectivity & transit

• What is IP transit?
• How much does IP transit cost?
• Peering vs transit: what’s the difference?
• What is an AS number (Autonomous System)?
• What is BGP and what is it for?
• How much do IPv4 addresses cost?
• What is dark fiber?
• What is a campus cross-connect?
• 95th percentile billing: how does it work?
• How do you protect your infrastructure against DDoS attacks?
• What network latency should you expect between two cities?
• What is an Internet exchange point (IXP)?
• What is DWDM?
• How do you avoid IP renumbering when changing site or carrier?
• Guaranteed or shared bandwidth: what’s the difference?
• Direct Connect, ExpressRoute: what is a direct link to the cloud for?

Network & WAN

• SD-WAN or MPLS: which one should you choose?
• What is an SLA repair time guarantee (GTR/MTTR)?
• How do you make a site’s Internet access redundant?
• Shared fiber (FTTH) or dedicated fiber (FTTO) for a business?
• Local loop and backhaul: how does a carrier connect a site?
• What is a VRF in an MPLS network?
• What is a single-provider (one-stop) operator?

Resilience (BCP/DRP)

• BCP vs DRP: what’s the difference?
• How far apart should the primary and backup sites be?
• RTO and RPO: definitions and good values
• How do you migrate from one data center to another?
• What is the 3-2-1 backup rule?
• 99.9% or 99.99%: what are these availability figures worth?

Cabling & fiber

• OM4 or OS2: which fiber should you choose in a data center?
• Copper or fiber for cabling your servers?
• How long does it take to get connected in a data center?
• IPMI, iDRAC, iLO: what is out-of-band server management for?
• Which copper cable category should you choose (Cat 6, 6A, 7, 8)?
• MPO / MTP: what is this fiber connector for?
• What is a patch panel for?
• What is the maximum distance over an optical fiber?

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