Colocation cabinets and cages are the units in which colocation space is sold. A cabinet (often called a rack) is a lockable enclosure that holds servers, storage and network equipment. A cage is a fenced, locked area on the data center floor that contains several cabinets or open racks for a single customer. Providers also sell smaller units, such as partial cabinets, and larger ones, such as private suites. The space you choose drives how much power you can use, who can touch your equipment and how much room you have to grow.
At a glance
- Common units, from smallest to largest, are rack units in a shared cabinet, partial cabinets, full cabinets, cages and private suites.
- Power is usually allocated and priced per cabinet or per kilowatt, and often costs more than the space itself.
- Cages and suites add privacy and access control; shared or partial cabinets cost less but offer less control.
- Space, power, cooling and connections are normally bundled or quoted together in a colocation contract.
What problem it solves
Renting space in a data center means agreeing on exactly what space you get and what comes with it. Standard units make that possible. A small company with a few servers can rent part of a cabinet; a larger one can rent a row of cabinets inside a cage; a company with strict security rules can take a private suite.
The units also define responsibility. Inside your cabinet or cage, the equipment and its arrangement are yours. The provider supplies the enclosure, power circuits, cooling and building security up to that boundary. That clarity matters when you plan capacity, control access and work out who fixes what.
How it works
Cabinets. A typical cabinet is a standard 19-inch rack (sized for 19-inch-wide equipment), lockable front and rear doors, and room for roughly 42 to 48 rack units, though dimensions vary. Providers deliver one or more power circuits to it, often a primary and a redundant circuit from separate power paths. Partial cabinets split one enclosure into separately locked sections.
Cages. A cage is a mesh-fenced area with its own locked door, containing the customer’s cabinets or open racks. Cages give your staff a private working area and can be sized for growth. Some have additional access controls such as badge readers or biometric locks.
Suites. A private suite is a walled room, often with dedicated access control and sometimes dedicated cooling or power infrastructure, used for large or security-sensitive deployments.
Power and cooling. The amount of power you can draw per cabinet, sometimes called power density, is often the real constraint. Dense equipment may need more power and cooling than a standard cabinet supports, which can mean special cooling arrangements or spreading equipment across more cabinets.
Connections and support. Network connections reach your space through cross-connects. The provider’s remote hands staff can work inside your cabinet or cage on request. Access rules for your staff are set by the provider’s physical security procedures.
For help sizing space and comparing providers, see our Colocation solution page.
When it matters for buyers
- First move into colocation. Count your equipment in rack units and estimate its power draw before choosing a unit size.
- Growth planning. Ask about reserving adjacent space or a right of first refusal so you are not split across the floor later.
- Security or compliance needs. Auditors or customers may require a cage or suite rather than shared space.
- Cost reviews. Unused space and oversized power commitments are common sources of waste at renewal.
Questions to ask vendors
- What cabinet sizes and dimensions do you offer, and are partial cabinets available?
- How much power can each cabinet draw, and is a redundant circuit from a separate power path included?
- How is power priced: per circuit, per committed kilowatt or metered?
- What access controls apply to cabinets, cages and suites, and who can authorize our visitors?
- Can we reserve adjacent space for growth, and on what terms?
- Can we use our own racks or locks inside a cage?
- What is included with the space (cooling, cross-connects, remote hands hours), and what is extra?
How it differs from colocation
Colocation is the overall service: renting space, power, cooling, security and connectivity in a provider’s data center for equipment you own. Cabinets, cages and suites are the units of space that service is sold in. When comparing colocation offers, the unit size is only one line; power, connections and support terms usually matter as much.