What Is High-Density Colocation?
High-density colocation refers to data center environments designed to support significantly greater power per rack, often 10 kW to 50 kW or more, compared to traditional colocation at 3-5 kW per rack. These facilities combine advanced power delivery, liquid or hybrid cooling systems, and carrier-neutral connectivity to maximize performance within a compact physical footprint.
By enabling enterprises to deploy dense clusters of compute-intensive servers, high-density colocation supports AI/ML workloads, HPC (high-performance computing), large-scale analytics, and other resource-hungry applications that are driving today’s digital economy.
What Is High-Density Colocation?
Traditional colocation is reaching its limits for organizations managing escalating compute needs. Modern workloads demand higher performance per square foot without ballooning real estate and energy costs.
High-density colocation is needed to:
- Overcome limitations of traditional rack power and cooling thresholds
- Support AI, ML, and edge workloads requiring massive parallel processing
- Control costs by reducing the footprint of large deployments
- Improve sustainability through more efficient energy usage per workload
Without transitioning to high-density facilities, businesses risk inefficiencies, excessive costs, and an inability to adapt to future demand curves shaped by AI and digital-first applications.
Analysts like Gartner emphasize the trend toward densification, while research from 451 Alliance highlights that nearly half of enterprises expect their power density requirements to grow substantially within the next two years.
Benefits of High-Density Colocation
Maximum Performance in Less Space
Deploy more computing power per rack and per square foot, maximizing operational efficiency while reducing real estate requirements.
Optimized for Modern Workloads
Support compute-intensive applications such as AI training, large-scale analytics, and advanced scientific simulations without bottlenecks in power or cooling.
Improved Cost Efficiency
Reduce the total cost of ownership by consolidating infrastructure into fewer racks while leveraging efficient power and cooling systems.
Sustainability Gains
Leverage advanced cooling and energy management to lower PUE (Power Usage Effectiveness), supporting corporate sustainability and carbon-reduction goals.
Why Would an Organization Choose High-Density Colocation?
Organizations may choose high-density colocation if they:
- Run AI, ML, or HPC workloads that require specialized power and cooling
- Need to scale compute rapidly without expanding footprint
- Prioritize sustainability alongside performance
- Seek cloud-adjacent infrastructure with high throughput and low latency
- Want to extend on-premises environments with facilities purpose-built for dense compute clusters
How to Choose the Right High-Density Colocation Provider
Power and Cooling Design
Does the provider offer rack densities beyond 20 kW, with scalable designs that can expand over time? What options exist for liquid or immersion cooling?
Connectivity
Does the facility provide carrier-neutral connectivity and cloud adjacency to enable low-latency access between colocation and hyperscale clouds?
Scalability
How easily can power, cooling, and space be scaled up or down as workload requirements evolve?
Sustainability
What commitments to renewable energy sourcing, waste heat reuse, or efficient PUE ratings does the provider maintain?
Security and Compliance
What measures are in place for physical security, cybersecurity, and regulatory compliance for sensitive workloads?
Operational Expertise
Does the provider deliver specialized support for deploying, managing, and optimizing high-density environments, including hands-on remote services?
Follow the Best Paths to Fast, Resilient, and Sustainable Operations
High-Density Cabinets
Select cabinet and containment solutions built to handle 100+ kW loads and integrate advanced airflow or liquid cooling systems.
Advanced Cooling
Adopt liquid cooling, rear-door heat exchangers, or hybrid cooling systems to maintain efficiency at scale.
Cloud Adjacency
Maximize performance and agility by colocating workloads next to hyperscale clouds for seamless hybrid deployment.
Global Connectivity
Enable efficient workload mobility by layering your deployment over a resilient, carrier-neutral network backbone.
Evocative High-Density Colocation Maximizes Business Agility and Scalability
Evocative helps enterprises modernize their IT environments with high-density colocation tailored for AI, HPC, and performance-driven workloads. Our facilities are designed to support next-generation power and cooling requirements, while our global carrier-neutral network ensures low-latency connectivity across data centers, clouds, and edge environments.
With interconnected data centers and points of presence, and infrastructure engineered for density, Evocative provides the secure, scalable platform you need to meet today’s compute demands and prepare for tomorrow’s.
