Remote hands covers basic, prescribed physical tasks in a data centre — reboots, cable swaps, labelling, shipping and receiving. Smart hands covers skilled work that needs judgement: installation, configuration, diagnostics and troubleshooting under direction from your engineers. Most providers bill the two at different rates, and the distinction decides who actually fixes your fault at 3am.
The two terms get used interchangeably in sales conversations and then mean very different things in the contract. This article sets out what sits in each tier, where providers draw the line, how the work is billed, and what to confirm before you rely on either for a site you cannot reach quickly.
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What remote hands means
Remote hands is the entry tier. TechTarget defines it as “the general name for a service colocation providers offer that enables customers to delegate IT management” (TechTarget), and the task list is deliberately narrow: “rebooting and power-cycling systems”, “restarting applications”, “providing routine monitoring of systems, networks and applications”, plus “handling, labeling, shipping and receiving requests” and basic hardware installation or replacement.
The defining characteristic is that the work is prescribed. You tell the technician which port, which cable, which button. They are your hands in a building you are not standing in. They are not expected to diagnose why the device failed, and in most contracts they are not permitted to.
That matters operationally. A remote hands request works when you already know what needs doing. It falls apart when the fault is not what you thought it was — because the person on site has no mandate to investigate and will close the ticket having done exactly what you asked.
What smart hands means
Smart hands is the skilled tier. Equinix describes its own Smart Hands service as “an around-the-clock, on-site operational support service at Equinix IBX data centers”, covering installations, troubleshooting, cabling, equipment handling, logistics support, and audits and documentation (Equinix Smart Hands documentation). Tasks can be “submitted on an ad hoc basis, or scheduled in advance”, and set to occur “one time, or on a recurring schedule”.
Park Place Technologies draws the distinction by skill level rather than by task list: smart hands provides “a higher level of expert service than is available with remote hands”, and while “remote hands are good for streamlining basic operations”, smart hands “allow for fast, efficient resolution of complex problems in the data center” (Park Place Technologies). Their comparison puts routine physical tasks and maintenance on the remote hands side, and troubleshooting, diagnostics and complex maintenance on the smart hands side.
In practice, smart hands is the tier you want when the instruction is an outcome rather than a step: “get this switch into the stack and talk to our network engineer while you do it” rather than “unplug port 14”.
Where providers actually draw the line
There is no industry standard, and that is the trap. TechTarget is blunt about it: some providers “differentiate between remote hands and smart hands”, while others use the two terms interchangeably — and where both are offered, “the two services are billed at different rates”. Some providers go further and “offer complimentary remote hands services but bill customers by the hour for using smart hands services”.
So the words on the data sheet tell you very little. What tells you something is the task schedule. Before signing, get a written list of what the entry tier includes and, more importantly, what it excludes. The questions worth asking:
- Is device configuration in scope, or only physical connection?
- Can the technician diagnose, or only execute a named instruction?
- Will they stay on a call with our engineer while working, or work from a ticket?
- What happens when the task turns out to be bigger than the request — does it escalate, or
does the ticket close? - Which tier is on site outside business hours, and is it the same tier at every site?
How the work is billed
No single model. TechTarget notes that “pricing for remote hands service varies by colocation provider”: some bill in 30-minute increments, some sell a set number of hours per month or year, and some fold the fee into the monthly colocation bill. Crucially, bundled support minutes often “don’t roll over to the next month if they aren’t used”.
Equinix’s documentation adds a second variable: turnaround depends on the site’s operating hours, its current workload and operating status, the complexity of the order, and “whether you elect to expedite your order”. Expediting is a commercial lever, not a given.
Three things follow for anyone budgeting this. First, pre-purchased blocks that expire are a use-it-or-lose-it cost, so size them against real ticket volume rather than worst case. Second, 30-minute increments make a stream of two-minute reboots expensive, which is an argument for remote access tooling rather than more hands. Third, response time is a separate negotiation from scope — TechTarget notes that providers typically outline response times by task category in the SLA, so a fast tier for reboots does not imply a fast tier for installations.
Which tier fits which situation
Colocation estate, your own kit, your own engineers
Remote hands for routine work, with a smart hands entitlement held in reserve. Most of your tickets are reboots and cable moves; you do not need to pay a skilled rate for those.
Sites in territories where you have no engineers at all
Smart hands, or a field engineering partner, is the only workable answer. Remote hands assumes a competent engineer somewhere giving precise instructions. If nobody on your team knows the rack, prescribed-task support has nothing to prescribe.
Equipment outside a colocation facility
Neither term applies. Remote hands is a colocation product tied to the provider’s building. Branch offices, retail sites, factory floors and customer premises need dispatched field engineering, booked against a response tier and an address list.
Projects rather than faults
Installations, decommissions and migrations are scheduled work, not incident response. Buying them out of an incident-support allowance is how allowances get exhausted in a single week. Scope them as a project with a site survey in front of them.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between smart hands and remote hands?
Remote hands covers basic, prescribed physical tasks — reboots, power cycling, cable swaps, labelling, shipping and receiving. Smart hands covers skilled work needing judgement, such as installation, configuration, diagnostics and troubleshooting. Park Place Technologies describes smart hands as “a higher level of expert service than is available with remote hands”.
Are smart hands and remote hands the same thing?
Sometimes. TechTarget notes that some providers differentiate the two and some use the terms interchangeably. Because there is no industry standard, the only reliable guide is the written task schedule in the contract, not the name of the service.
Is remote hands included in colocation?
It depends on the provider. Some include a fee in the monthly colocation bill, some sell blocks of hours, and some bill per incident in 30-minute increments. Some offer remote hands at no extra charge but bill smart hands by the hour. Bundled minutes frequently expire monthly.
Does remote hands include troubleshooting?
Generally no. Remote hands executes a named instruction; it is not mandated to diagnose. If the fault turns out to be something other than what you reported, the ticket is likely to close as completed. Diagnostic work belongs in the smart hands tier.
What is smart hands in a data centre?
On-site technical support delivered by the facility or a service partner, covering installation, cabling, equipment handling, troubleshooting, logistics and documentation. Equinix describes its own service as “an around-the-clock, on-site operational support service” available ad hoc or on a recurring schedule.
Do smart hands work outside a data centre?
Not under that name. Smart hands and remote hands are colocation services tied to the provider’s own facility. Work at branch offices, retail sites, factories or customer premises is field engineering, dispatched to an address against an agreed response tier.
How quickly does a smart hands request get actioned?
It varies by site and by task type. Equinix’s documentation lists the facility’s operating hours, its current workload and operating status, order complexity and whether the order is expedited as the factors involved. TechTarget notes that providers typically set out response times by task category in the SLA, so confirm the tier for the specific task you care about.
Data centre and field support from Throne Solutions
Throne Solutions provides data centre support for multi-site estates, and dispatched engineering beyond the facility through
global field services — covering the work that colocation smart hands does not reach. Installations, moves, adds and changes are handled as IMAC services, with
hardware maintenance and
third-party maintenance behind the estate, and site surveys and installations in front of project work. Response tiers are agreed through
SLA-based IT support, and coverage by territory is set out on
Our Presence.
Throne runs offices in the United Kingdom, the United States, Denmark, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, so a request can be raised in your working day rather than someone else’s.
Send your site addresses, the task types you expect and the response tiers you need, and you will get a quote against the real estate rather than a standard rate card.
Email: info@thronesolutions.com
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