Most colos and field vendors sell two levels of on-site help. Remote hands is the basic one: somebody walks to your cabinet and does a simple physical task you spell out. Smart hands is a technician who can troubleshoot, install and document without being walked through every step.
The names aren't standard, which is where people get burned. Equinix calls its whole on-site service Smart Hands, power cycling included, and other providers draw the line in different places. So the label on the order form tells you less than you'd think. What matters is whether the person who shows up can handle the problem you actually have.
Order the basic tier for a problem that needs judgment and you usually get back a well-written description of the problem. Then you pay for a second visit to fix it.
What remote hands covers
Remote hands is for tasks that need a body at the rack and no judgment calls. You tell the tech exactly what to do and exactly where, and they do it.
Typical remote hands tasks:
Power cycling a device, or pulling and reseating a power cord
Reading off LED states, model numbers or serial numbers
Photos of the front and back of a cabinet
Reseating a cable or optic you've already identified by port
Plugging in a console cable so your team can reach the device
Receiving a shipment at the dock and moving it to your cage
It's usually the colo's own staff, billed in short time increments. It works well when you already know the answer and just need someone's hands to carry it out. If your ticket has the word "probably" in it, it's probably not a remote hands ticket.
What smart hands covers
Smart hands is an experienced technician who can keep working the problem when the first answer turns out to be wrong.
Typical smart hands work:
Rack and stack: rails, mounting, cabling to a port map, power to the right PDUs
Layer 1 and 2 troubleshooting: CRC errors, flapping ports, bad optics, mismatched fiber
Cross-connects and patching, including tracing an unlabeled run to where it actually lands
Fiber cleaning and testing, with the results attached to the ticket
Hardware swaps and RMAs: drives, power supplies, line cards, whole chassis
Out-of-band access: console, iLO and iDRAC, so your engineers can reach the box remotely
Audits, labeling, port mapping and rack elevation updates
Decommissioning: de-racking, cable removal and a record of what left the cage
The difference shows up when something goes sideways. A port flapping on CRC errors looks like a bad optic, and sometimes it is. Sometimes it's a dirty connector, a damaged patch cord or the wrong fiber type for the optic. A smart hands tech checks those before the new part goes in, then tells you which one it was.
Same with installs. The rails that came in the box don't always fit the cabinet, and someone has to make a call on that at 1 a.m. A server sitting on the floor of the cage is technically in the data center.
Side by side
| Remote hands | Smart hands | |
|---|---|---|
| Who shows up | Usually the colo's own staff | A field technician, from the colo or a third party |
| What you send them | Exact step-by-step instructions | The goal, access details and your engineer's number |
| When something unexpected happens | They stop and wait for new instructions | They troubleshoot, then call you with what they found |
| What you get back | Confirmation the task was done, sometimes a photo | Notes, photos, test results, updated labels and port maps |
| How it's billed | Short time increments | Hourly, priced by difficulty, or a fixed project price |
| Best for | Reboots, visual checks, a known cable or optic swap | Installs, troubleshooting, cutovers, audits, decommissioning |
How to tell which one to order
Ask one question: will the person on site need to make a decision? If no, remote hands is fine. If yes, or if you're not sure, order smart hands.
A few tickets from the field:
A switch is hung and needs a power cycle. Remote hands. You know the device, the outlet and what you want done.
A link keeps flapping and monitoring shows CRC errors. Smart hands. It could be the optic, the patch cord, the connector or the far end, and somebody has to check them in the right order.
A server's management port picked up an address nobody wrote down. Smart hands. A tech on site can get on the console or pull the switch's ARP table and find it.
Twelve new servers show up at the dock. Smart hands. Rails, cabling to a port map, power split across A and B, labels, and an updated rack elevation at the end.
You want to confirm a storage cluster really has redundant power. Smart hands. Somebody has to trace every power supply to its PDU and feed, because the drawing and the rack don't always agree.
A cabinet of old gear needs to come out. Smart hands. Somebody has to confirm what's actually powered off before any cables get cut, and document what left the cage.
What to have ready before you open a ticket
Most failed visits fail on missing information. The tech had the skills and couldn't get past the lobby, or got in and couldn't find the device. Whichever tier you order, have these four things in the ticket:
Access: site address, which entrance, and the name and mobile number of whoever authorizes badges. Escort rules and dock hours too.
The work: cage, row, cabinet, rack unit, and the device label exactly as printed. One sentence on what "done" looks like.
Materials: what's already on site and what the tech needs to bring. For optics, the type, connector and mode.
A contact who will pick up during the window.
We put all of that on a one-page service request template you can fill out and attach.
How Core-1 handles it
Core-1 does smart hands and remote hands work across NYC, New Jersey and Philadelphia, and travels for project work nationwide. Most of our visits run under the customer's engineer, who stays on a call while we work the rack. Every job closes with notes, photos and test results where testing applies, so the next person to open that cabinet knows what changed.
If you're not sure which tier your ticket needs, send it over and we'll tell you. Sometimes the right answer is your colo's remote hands, and we'll say so.
Request on-site support or see our smart hands services.
Frequently asked questions
Is smart hands the same as remote hands?
No. Remote hands is basic physical work done to your exact instructions. Smart hands is a technician who can troubleshoot and make decisions on site. Some providers use one name for both, so check what the service actually includes.
Do I need smart hands for a simple reboot?
No. If you know the device and the outlet, remote hands will do it for less.
How is smart hands billed?
By the hour, at a rate set by how difficult the work is. We tell you which rate applies when we scope the job.
Smart hands technician: $150/hr
Field engineer: $180/hr
Senior network engineer: $225/hr
Nights and weekends: $225/hr
Emergency dispatch: $250/hr
Fiber, cross-connect and cabling work have their own rates, and a defined project can be quoted as a fixed price.
Why use a third-party smart hands provider instead of the colo's staff?
The same tech can cover your gear across several buildings and providers, and can stay on your engineer's bridge for the whole window. Colo staff are often juggling tickets for every tenant in the building.
What should a smart hands visit leave behind?
Notes on what was done, photos of the work, test results where testing applies, and updated labels, port maps or rack elevations if anything moved.