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About Smart Hands

Smart Hands is an around-the-clock, on-site operational support service at Equinix IBX data centers. Technicians perform physical tasks within your cage or cabinet, including the installation, management, and troubleshooting of your data center equipment. This service is designed for scenarios where remote access is insufficient and hands-on intervention is required, such as hardware installation, component replacement, cabling, or emergency recovery.

When to Use Smart Hands​

  • Emergency troubleshooting and repair of equipment
  • Backup coverage when IT staff are unavailable
  • Moving shipments from the loading dock to your cage
  • Generating reports on power usage or cage access
  • Scheduled recurring activities such as tape swaps or cage clean-ups

Types of Services​

Smart Hands covers small- to medium-sized tasks in these categories:

  • Installations: Cabinets, PDUs, ladder racking, interface cards, rack-and-stack
  • Troubleshooting: Equipment checks, circuit testing, on-site visual verifications, power cycling
  • Cabling: Assembling/installing/maintaining cabling, Structured cabling, patch cable extensions
  • Equipment Handling: Move, remove, or replace hardware
  • Logistics Support: Shipping, receiving, packing/unpacking of equipment, delivering equipment between the cage and loading dock
  • Audits and Documentation: Inventory checks, compliance reports
  • Recurring Services: Tape handling and scheduled tasks

Smart Hands Technician Services​

With Smart Hands, you have access to our trained IBX technicians, who can:

  • Provide on-site technical assistance and troubleshooting.
  • Perform equipment installations.
  • Remove and install interface cards.
  • Test carrier circuits.
  • Take inventory of equipment, take digital photos, and record serial numbers.
  • Perform a power cycle on a router, server, or switch; soft-boot a server.
  • Move equipment within your space and cabinets.
  • Install ladder racking, pre-wire patch panels and equipment.
  • Assemble, install, and maintain cabling.
  • Verify cable integrity on installed media.
  • Provide visual verifications.
  • Install, replace, or remove equipment (router, switch card, disk drive, memory, etc.).
  • Assist with conference room and AV equipment setup.
  • Add, remove, or verify a demarcation.
  • Assist with unboxing of equipment or shipment of equipment.
  • Extend patch cables from the patch panel to the equipment.
note

Service requests can be:

  • Submitted on an ad hoc basis, or scheduled in advance.
  • Set to occur one time, or on a recurring schedule.

Turnaround Time for Services​

The turnaround time for Smart Hands services varies based on the following factors:

  • The operating hours of the IBX.
  • The current workload and operating status of the IBX.
  • Whether you elect to expedite your order.
  • The complexity of your order.

For more details, see Turnaround Times.

Other Smart Hands Features​

  • You can communicate directly with the on-site technician, via video conferencing (if available at your IBX) or via messaging.
  • You can view various reports about your equipment (cage access logs, order history, maintenance notifications, and more).
  • Support plans are available, to help you save money over ad hoc services.
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