Rack and Stack in Zurich

Equinix ZH4 - Zurich stands on Josefstrasse in Zurich. For a company that places equipment in a Zurich data centre, new hardware arrives in cartons and has to become working infrastructure inside a building run by someone else. Rack and stack is the work that closes that gap: installing, mounting and cabling new hardware in the customer's racks. Reboot Monkey is a third-party datacenter services operator. It sells rack space, IP transit, leased IP addresses, network and data-centre hardware, together with the services that deliver, install and support them, inside data centres that other companies own and run. It is not a hosting company and does not own datacenters, so the racking work is done in the customer's own space, in the facility the customer has chosen. The building belongs to its operator.

Data centres in Zurich, ordered by the number of networks present:

Rack and stack work covers cabling, labelling and power-on checks; quotes are on request. In practice the work divides into the following parts, each of which stays in the customer's rack:

The engineer installs and mounts the new hardware. Servers, switches and other equipment are fitted into the rack positions the customer has set.

The engineer cables the equipment. Network cabling is installed and patched in the customer's rack, and each cable is labelled so the next person to work in the rack can follow it.

The engineer checks that the equipment powers on. The power-on check is part of the scope, so the customer receives hardware that has been switched on and seen to start, not only hardware that has been placed in a rack.

Connectivity is handled alongside the racking. Reboot Monkey sells the network for the rack: it orders the cross connects and carrier circuits from the facility operator and the carriers present in the facility, and Reboot Monkey engineers install and patch the cabling in the customer's rack. For fibre links, a fibre inspection scope and cleaning kit are available on request.

Prices are quoted on request and depend on the customer and the size of the job.

A rack and stack job depends on one person turning up who knows the site and the task. A second, briefed Reboot Monkey engineer is named as backup for every customer site, so the work does not hinge on a single individual being available on the day.

Reboot Monkey works across providers. Because it is not a hosting company and does not own the buildings it works in, it can install the customer's chosen hardware, in the customer's chosen facility, without steering the decision toward its own estate.

As of 2026, Reboot Monkey's field engineers work in 190 countries and more than 400 locations. For a business with equipment in Zurich and elsewhere, the same service model applies in each place, which keeps procurement and contract handling simple for IT directors managing a spread of sites.

The same engineers can later move equipment between racks, rooms or facilities, or remove retired hardware, so a rack installed today does not need a different supplier when it is changed or retired.

These terms apply in every facility in Zurich where Reboot Monkey engineers work.

The data centres we work in hold their own certifications, such as ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 9001. Ask us for the certificate of your site.

Rack and stack usually follows a decision about where the equipment will live. Teams that are still arranging space and connectivity for new hardware can look at Colocation in Zurich, then book the installation once the rack position is settled.

After the hardware is installed, the work often continues with remote hands (physical tasks carried out on the customer's instruction, such as reboots, cable checks, component swaps and visual checks) and smart hands (technical work that needs diagnostic judgement and configuration knowledge). Hardware monitoring, carried out by the Reboot Monkey NOC, covers the customer's servers and network equipment once they are in service.