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Frequently asked

Every question, in one place.

Answers about colocation, connectivity, deployments, hosting, server management, and development with Amherst Systems.

Questions, answered

All questions

From the first requirements to the details of delivery.

What does Amherst Systems provide?

Amherst Systems helps teams source colocation, plan server and network infrastructure, and coordinate deployment. We translate workload, power, connectivity, budget, and timeline requirements into a practical plan, then work with data center and connectivity suppliers to move it forward.

Can you help us choose a data center outside Boston?

Yes. We source facilities around the markets and requirements of your project. Location, available power, carrier access, expansion options, and the deployment schedule shape the shortlist. Our Boston colocation offering is also available where it fits.

Do you help after a facility is selected?

Yes. Depending on the agreed scope, we can plan the hardware, rack layout, power distribution, network topology, and carrier handoffs, then coordinate delivery, installation, and documentation. Responsibilities and acceptance criteria are agreed before work begins.

Which suppliers can you help us evaluate?

Our partner directory highlights data center, connectivity, and cloud and security providers relevant to infrastructure projects. We work directly with vendors to match options to your requirements and confirm availability and commercial terms.

What do you need to start a project?

Share your target markets, workload or equipment list, expected rack space and power, connectivity needs, budget, and preferred go-live date. Estimates are enough to start; we can help fill in the technical details during scoping.

What does a colocation consultant help with?

Amherst Systems helps turn your workload into a facility shortlist, compare cabinet and cage proposals, qualify power and connectivity, and coordinate the selected deployment. Data center site selection here means choosing an existing facility for your equipment.

What determines the cost of a colocation project?

The quote depends on the market, footprint, usable power, cooling, connectivity, remote hands, installation work, and contract term. We compare recurring and one-time charges against the same requirements; supplier-sourced projects are quoted separately from our published Boston hosting rates.

Can you help if we have not selected a market yet?

Yes. We can start with where your users, workloads, and team are located, then weigh connectivity, facility options, and operational requirements to develop a market shortlist.

Does A/B power mean we can use the capacity of both feeds?

For a redundant design, the surviving feed must support the intended load when the other feed fails. We ask the provider to confirm usable capacity, circuit limits, and the proposed failover arrangement instead of adding the two feed ratings together.

Do you offer colocation in Boston?

Yes. Our existing Boston colocation service is a separate option with its own published pricing. Those rates apply to that service; other facilities and larger deployments are quoted for their specific requirements.

Can you help with the deployment after we choose a facility?

Yes. We can help translate the selected proposal into rack, power, equipment, and network plans, then coordinate the agreed deployment steps with your team and the relevant providers.

What is included in data center deployment services?

Amherst Systems scopes deployment planning around the equipment list, rack layout, usable power, network design, carrier and facility dependencies, installation responsibilities, acceptance checks, and operational handover. Deliverables and physical work are agreed for each project.

Can you coordinate rack and stack work?

Yes. We can plan rack positions, power connections, cabling, equipment delivery, and installation dependencies, then coordinate the agreed rack and stack work with your team, facility remote hands, or installation providers. The scope identifies who performs and accepts each task.

How long does a data center deployment take?

The schedule depends on facility readiness, equipment lead times, carrier delivery, cross-connects, access approvals, and the agreed testing scope. We identify those dependencies before proposing milestones; a target date is confirmed against provider commitments.

Can you work with hardware or providers we already use?

Yes. We can build around existing equipment, facility agreements, and carrier relationships. We review those constraints at the start and identify any compatibility or capacity gaps that need to be resolved.

Do you support GPU and storage infrastructure projects?

We can help plan these deployments, including their equipment, power, cooling, and network requirements. We qualify the specific hardware and facility fit before recommending a design or committing to a deployment scope.

Who handles the physical installation?

That is established in the project scope. We can coordinate with your team, equipment vendors, facility remote hands, and installation providers, with responsibilities and access requirements agreed before work begins.

Is ongoing management included?

Ongoing operations and support are scoped separately from a deployment project. The handover identifies who owns monitoring, maintenance, changes, and escalation so there is a clear plan after installation.

What is data center connectivity sourcing?

It is the process of matching internet access, IP transit, private transport, and cloud connections to your locations and traffic needs. Amherst Systems compares carrier proposals and coordinates handoffs, cross-connect dependencies, delivery dates, and responsibilities.

Is a cross-connect included in the carrier quote?

It depends on the proposal. Confirm who orders the facility cross-connect, the demarcation point and media, any recurring and installation charges, and the required authorization documents. A carrier circuit and a facility cross-connect may be separate orders.

Can every listed provider serve every data center?

No. Availability varies by building, product, capacity, and delivery method. A provider listed in our ecosystem is an option to evaluate, not a promise that a particular service is available at your site.

Can you help us compare two carrier quotes?

Yes. We can compare the service type, capacity, billing method, handoff, installation charges, cross-connect costs, term, and delivery assumptions, and flag questions that need a provider response.

Can you help with redundant connectivity?

Yes. We can help define the intended failure scenarios and evaluate carrier and path options. Different provider names alone do not establish physical diversity; route and access details need to be confirmed for the design.

Do you source DDoS protection and cloud connectivity?

Yes. These can be included in the sourcing brief. We evaluate the required protection or cloud access model, integration needs, service scope, and availability with the relevant providers.

How are suppliers selected for a project?

We start with the technical and commercial requirements, then evaluate suitable suppliers and confirm service availability for the requested location. The directory is a starting point; the project shortlist is specific to your needs.

Are all listed services available in every location?

No. Services, capacity, and commercial terms vary by provider and location. We confirm these details directly with vendors for your project before recommending a purchase.

Where is the Amherst Systems colocation facility?

Amherst Systems colocates at Digital Realty BOS14, 128 First Avenue, Needham, MA 02494, serving the Boston metro market. The facility holds SOC 2, SOC 3, PCI-DSS, and ISO 27001, and runs N+1 UPS and N+1 cooling.

What size footprints can I colocate?

Footprints start at a single rack unit and scale to a full 45U cabinet. Space is billed per U at $10.00 per month, dropping to $5.00 per U per month at ten units and above, and a full cabinet with 4kW and a 10G uplink is bundled at $1,315.00 per month.

How is colocation power billed?

Power is metered at 208V and billed per amp at $63.18 per month, which works out to $0.3038 per watt. Low-draw deployments can be billed per watt instead, so a 50W device is $15.19 per month.

Can I bring my own transit or peer directly?

Yes. The facility is carrier-neutral, so you can cross-connect to any provider in the building. A 1G port is included at no charge, and Amherst Systems also peers on MASS-IX over a 100G port for New England traffic.

Is remote hands available?

Yes. The facility has 24x7 onsite security personnel and technician access with biometric and photo badge control, and Amherst Systems can carry out hands-on work on your equipment under the system administration rates.

How much does colocation cost to start?

A minimum footprint of one rack unit with one 208V amp and the included 1G port starts at about $73 per month. Larger footprints move onto volume space pricing and metered power.

What does a full cabinet cost?

A full 45U cabinet with 4kW of power and a single 10G uplink is $1,315.00 per month with a $2,250.00 setup charge. That bundle is priced below the sum of the same components bought individually.

How is IP transit billed?

IP transit is billed on the 95th percentile and starts at 50 Mbps for $5.53 per month. Commitments receive 10% off from 2 Gbps, 15% off from 5 Gbps, and 20% off from 10 Gbps; usage above commit is $0.16 per Mbps.

Are there charges beyond space, power, and transit?

Ports above 1G carry a monthly charge and, at 40G and 100G, a one-time setup charge. Cross-connects to other providers in the building and any hands-on work are quoted with the footprint.

What is bare metal at Amherst Systems?

Bare metal is single-tenant hardware that Amherst Systems owns and operates on your behalf in Digital Realty BOS14. You get the whole machine with no hypervisor and no noisy neighbours, on the same network as our colocation customers.

How is bare metal different from colocation?

With colocation you own the hardware and we provide the space, power, and network. With bare metal we provide the hardware as well, so there is no capital purchase and no hardware lifecycle for you to manage.

How is bare metal priced?

Bare metal builds are quoted around the workload, since the machine profile, storage pattern, and bandwidth expectations drive most of the cost. Contact Amherst Systems for a quote on a specific configuration.

Can bare metal be managed?

Yes. Bare metal can be paired with the published system administration plans, which start at $100 per month for one server, or left entirely self-managed.

What is the Amherst Systems network?

Amherst Systems operates AS402389 from Digital Realty BOS14 with 100G of active Cogent transit, a standby TowardEX circuit, and a 100G port into MASS-IX for regional peering.

Who are the upstream carriers?

Active IP transit is delivered over a 100G Cogent port. A separate 10G TowardEX circuit remains on standby for failover and is not included in the active-capacity total.

What does peering on MASS-IX do for me?

MASS-IX is a New England peering fabric with a point of presence in the same building as our cabinets, so regional traffic can take a short, direct path instead of transiting out of the metro and back.

What is Amherst Systems VPS hosting used for?

Amherst Systems VPS hosting is designed for web applications, internal tooling, game servers, bots, and other workloads that need fast deployment, predictable plans, and NVMe-backed storage.

Where does Amherst Systems VPS hosting run?

VPS instances run on the same Boston-metro infrastructure and the same network, AS402389, as our colocation and bare metal customers, so a hybrid footprint stays on one network path.

Where can I view current Amherst Systems VPS pricing?

Amherst Systems publishes VPS pricing on a dedicated comparison page with separate managed and unmanaged paths so buyers can review the right pricing model directly.

Why does Amherst Systems split VPS pricing into managed and unmanaged pages?

The split makes the buying decision clearer. Unmanaged VPS is for teams that handle routine administration themselves, while managed VPS adds the published management layer on top of the selected base VPS plan.

Where should I go if I want self-managed VPS pricing?

Use the unmanaged VPS pricing page to compare the published Nano through Enterprise plans and review the base infrastructure pricing without an added management layer.

Where should I go if I want managed VPS pricing?

Use the managed VPS pricing page to review how the base VPS plan and the Lite, Standard, or Pro management layer fit together for a one-server deployment.

What is the starting price for Amherst Systems unmanaged VPS hosting?

Amherst Systems unmanaged VPS hosting starts at $4.99 per month for the Nano plan, with higher tiers available for more CPU, memory, storage, and bandwidth.

What is included with every unmanaged Amherst Systems VPS plan?

The published unmanaged VPS plans are positioned around NVMe storage, predictable monthly resource tiers, support availability, and the Amherst Systems uptime SLA.

Who is unmanaged VPS intended for?

Unmanaged VPS is intended for teams that are comfortable handling routine server administration, patching, configuration, and day-to-day operating-system work themselves.

How does managed VPS pricing work?

Managed VPS starts with a base unmanaged VPS plan and adds one of the published Lite, Standard, or Pro management tiers on top for one server.

Does managed VPS include the same base VPS infrastructure?

Yes. Managed VPS uses the same underlying VPS plans. The difference is that server administration, monitoring options, and response priority are added through the management layer.

Who is managed VPS intended for?

Managed VPS is intended for teams that want the flexibility of a VPS but do not want to handle all routine server administration themselves.

When should I choose a dedicated server instead of a VPS?

A dedicated server is the better fit when a workload needs single-tenant hardware, stronger performance consistency, direct infrastructure control, or software that should not share a host.

Are Amherst Systems dedicated servers single tenant?

Yes. Amherst Systems positions dedicated servers as single-tenant hardware reserved for one customer and one workload profile at a time.

How are dedicated servers priced?

Dedicated servers are quote based, with separate managed and unmanaged pricing-intent pages to clarify whether ongoing server administration is part of the engagement.

Why does Amherst Systems split dedicated pricing into managed and unmanaged pages?

The split separates the hardware decision from the support decision. Unmanaged dedicated is for teams that operate the box themselves, while managed dedicated adds the published management layer to a quoted dedicated server.

Are dedicated servers publicly priced on the site?

No. Dedicated hardware remains quote based so the server profile, storage layout, bandwidth expectations, and protection requirements can be matched to the workload.

Where can I compare the two dedicated options?

Use the dedicated pricing comparison page to choose between unmanaged dedicated and managed dedicated before opening the detail page that matches your operating model.

What does unmanaged dedicated mean on Amherst Systems?

Unmanaged dedicated means the server hardware is provisioned for your workload, but your team remains responsible for routine server administration and day-to-day operating decisions.

Is unmanaged dedicated still quote based?

Yes. The hardware stays quote based so the machine can be matched to the workload instead of forcing every deployment into a generic public template.

Who is unmanaged dedicated intended for?

Unmanaged dedicated is intended for teams that want single-tenant hardware and are comfortable running the server themselves.

How does managed dedicated pricing work?

Managed dedicated combines quote-based dedicated hardware with the published Lite, Standard, or Pro management layer for one server.

Is the dedicated hardware included in the management price?

No. The management plans are the admin layer only. The dedicated hardware itself is still quoted separately based on the workload and server requirements.

Who is managed dedicated intended for?

Managed dedicated is intended for teams that need single-tenant hardware but want Amherst Systems to handle routine administration, monitoring options, and operational support for that server.

What do Amherst Systems development services cover?

Amherst Systems development services cover custom websites, web applications, dashboards, portals, internal tools, and other JavaScript or TypeScript projects scoped around the actual requirements of the build.

Do you only build websites?

No. Websites are a common starting point, but the service also covers broader JavaScript or TypeScript work such as dashboards, admin panels, client portals, and custom browser-based tools.

Are development services sold as a package?

No. Amherst Systems positions development services as quote based so scope, integrations, content, project complexity, and launch requirements can be matched to the actual work instead of forced into a generic tier.

What does Amherst Systems system administration cover?

Amherst Systems system administration covers small administrative tasks, config edits, panel setup, installs, backup setup, monitoring-related alerting, and planned server work for a single-server scope.

Are the managed plans limited to one server?

Yes. Managed Lite, Managed Standard, and Managed Pro are published as one-server plans. They can be applied to managed VPS or managed dedicated deployments, while multi-server environments and broader scope are custom quoted.

What counts as emergency work?

Emergency work is framed as urgent incident or outage response billed at $150 per hour. Amherst Systems does not publish a numeric public SLA on the page.