When your customers rely on IT infrastructure to keep their businesses running, power availability is critical.
Servers, network equipment, storage platforms and other infrastructure can only operate if they have a reliable supply of electricity. A short interruption can cause equipment to shut down, disrupt services, interrupt connectivity and potentially result in costly downtime.
That's why power resilience is a fundamental part of the colocation environment at VeloxServ.
Our data centres are designed to provide resilient infrastructure for partners and their customers, including redundant A+B power for compatible customer equipment.
But what does A+B power actually mean, and why is it so important for mission-critical infrastructure?
What is A+B power?
A+B power is a redundant power configuration where compatible IT equipment receives power from two separate power feeds, commonly referred to as the A feed and the B feed.
Instead of relying on one electrical supply, equipment with dual power supplies can connect to both.
Under normal circumstances, both feeds support the equipment. If one feed experiences a failure or needs to be taken offline for maintenance, the second feed can continue supplying power.
The result is a more resilient power architecture designed to keep critical infrastructure operational even when one power path is unavailable.
A simple example
Imagine a server with two power supply units:
- Power Supply 1 → A power feed
- Power Supply 2 → B power feed
If the A feed fails, the server can continue operating using the B feed.
Likewise, if the B feed needs to be taken offline, the A feed can continue supporting the server.
The important point is that a single failure doesn't automatically mean a complete loss of power to the equipment.
How VeloxServ uses redundant power
At VeloxServ, we understand that our partners aren't simply putting servers into a rack – they're trusting us with infrastructure that their customers depend on.
That's why resilience is built into the infrastructure supporting our colocation services.
VeloxServ provides redundant A+B power to support compatible customer equipment, giving partners an additional layer of protection against a failure affecting a single power path.
This means that equipment with dual power supplies can be connected to separate A and B feeds rather than relying on one electrical connection.
For MSPs, hosting providers and IT resellers, this can provide greater confidence that critical customer infrastructure has been deployed into a data centre environment designed with resilience in mind.
Why is redundant power important?
For many businesses, downtime isn't simply an inconvenience.
An outage could prevent employees from accessing applications, take customer-facing services offline, interrupt communications or stop critical systems from operating.
For MSPs and hosting providers, the impact can be even greater. An infrastructure failure could potentially affect multiple customers and services simultaneously.
Redundant power helps reduce this risk by removing a single point of failure from the power supply to appropriately configured equipment.
It can provide additional protection against:
- Power supply failures
- Electrical infrastructure faults
- Planned maintenance
- Equipment replacement
- Individual circuit failures
- Unexpected interruptions to one power path
At VeloxServ, our approach is to provide partners with a resilient environment where their customers' infrastructure can operate with greater protection against these types of events.
How does A+B power work in a data centre?
A resilient data centre doesn't rely on a single layer of protection.
Power infrastructure can incorporate multiple components, including mains electricity, UPS systems, generators and power distribution equipment.
A+B power then provides two separate power paths through that infrastructure to appropriately configured customer equipment.
A simplified example looks like this:
A Power Path
Power supply → UPS → Power Distribution → A Feed → Server PSU 1
B Power Path
Power supply → UPS → Power Distribution → B Feed → Server PSU 2
The objective is to ensure that an issue affecting one power path doesn't automatically interrupt the second.
This is particularly important for infrastructure that needs to remain operational around the clock.
What happens if one power feed fails?
This is where A+B power demonstrates its value.
If the A power feed becomes unavailable, a dual-powered device can continue receiving power from the B feed through its redundant power supply.
The transition happens automatically through the equipment's redundant power supplies, without requiring an engineer to manually move a power cable.
For the customer, the aim is simple:
Their equipment stays online while the affected power path is investigated, repaired or maintained.
This can be particularly valuable for infrastructure supporting critical applications, connectivity services, hosting platforms and customer networks.
A+B power also supports planned maintenance
Redundancy isn't only about protecting against unexpected failures.
It can also make planned maintenance less disruptive.
Power infrastructure needs to be inspected, maintained and occasionally upgraded. Without redundancy, carrying out work on a particular power circuit could require equipment to be shut down.
With A+B power, the appropriate power path can potentially be taken offline while the alternative path continues supporting compatible customer equipment.
For VeloxServ partners, this means that resilience isn't simply there for the moment something goes wrong. It also helps provide operational flexibility when essential maintenance needs to take place.
A+B power isn't simply two sockets
It's important to understand that plugging equipment into two sockets doesn't automatically create genuine redundancy.
For A+B power to provide meaningful resilience, the two feeds need to be appropriately separated within the underlying power infrastructure.
If both sockets ultimately depend on the same underlying power path, a single failure could still affect both.
That's why partners evaluating colocation should look beyond the number of power sockets available and understand how the facility's power infrastructure is designed.
At VeloxServ, redundant power forms part of the wider infrastructure supporting our colocation environments – alongside resilient connectivity, secure facilities and operational support.
Which equipment benefits from A+B power?
A+B power is particularly valuable for equipment that supports dual power supplies.
This commonly includes:
- Servers
- Storage systems
- Network switches
- Routers
- Firewalls
- SAN and NAS platforms
- Telecoms equipment
- High-availability infrastructure
Many enterprise-grade systems are designed with redundant power supplies specifically so they can connect to separate power sources.
However, not every device supports dual power inputs.
If a device only has a single power supply, A+B power cannot provide the same level of direct redundancy to that device. Partners should therefore consider the power configuration of their customers' equipment when planning a colocation deployment.
Our team can help partners understand the available power configuration when planning customer deployments within VeloxServ's data centres.
Power resilience is only one part of the picture
A+B power is an important component of a resilient data centre, but it shouldn't be considered in isolation.
A genuinely resilient infrastructure strategy considers multiple potential points of failure.
At VeloxServ, that means looking beyond power to the wider environment supporting customer infrastructure.
Power
Redundant A+B power for compatible equipment, supported by resilient data centre power infrastructure.
Connectivity
Our data centres are connected by a resilient 100Gbps national network, providing partners with a high-capacity platform for customer connectivity.
Physical infrastructure
VeloxServ owns and operates its own privately owned, independent data centres in the Midlands, giving us direct control over the environments in which customer infrastructure is hosted.
Security
Our data centre environments are ISO 27001 certified, supporting robust information security and operational controls.
Operational support
Remote hands and delivery management are included with all VeloxServ colocation packages, giving partners access to support when physical intervention is required at the data centre.
The result is an approach to colocation that considers resilience across the infrastructure rather than focusing on a single component.
Why redundant power matters to VeloxServ partners
For partners, the benefits of resilient power extend beyond the individual server in a rack.
MSPs, hosting providers, IT resellers and network providers are ultimately responsible for delivering reliable services to their customers.
The infrastructure provider they choose therefore becomes an important part of that service proposition.
Choosing a colocation environment with redundant power can help partners:
- Reduce exposure to single points of failure
- Improve infrastructure resilience
- Support higher availability requirements
- Reduce the potential impact of planned maintenance
- Provide customers with greater confidence in their hosting environment
- Build resilience into critical infrastructure from the outset
It can also help partners have more meaningful conversations with customers about why the underlying infrastructure matters, rather than simply comparing rack prices.
What should partners ask a colocation provider?
When assessing a facility for customer infrastructure, we recommend looking beyond the headline specification.
Ask:
Is A+B power available?
Confirm whether redundant power feeds are available for your customer's equipment.
Are the feeds appropriately separated?
Understand how the A and B power paths are designed and whether a single failure could affect both.
What backup power infrastructure is available?
Ask about the facility's wider power resilience, including UPS and generator arrangements.
Can maintenance be performed without taking both feeds offline?
Planned maintenance shouldn't automatically mean customer downtime in a suitably resilient environment.
Does the customer's equipment support dual power supplies?
A+B power provides its full benefit when equipment has redundant power supplies that can be connected to both feeds.
What other resilience is built into the facility?
Consider power alongside connectivity, cooling, security, monitoring and operational support.
Redundancy is about removing single points of failure
The fundamental principle behind A+B power is simple:
Don't allow one failure to take everything offline.
By providing compatible equipment with two separate power feeds, VeloxServ helps partners build greater resilience into their customers' colocation deployments.
And because redundant power sits alongside resilient connectivity, secure facilities and hands-on operational support, it forms part of a wider approach to keeping customer infrastructure protected and available.
The bottom line
Power is easy to overlook when you're focused on servers, storage and connectivity. But every piece of physical IT infrastructure ultimately depends on it.
A+B power provides an additional layer of resilience by giving compatible equipment two separate power feeds rather than relying on a single connection.
For VeloxServ partners, that means having the option to deploy critical customer infrastructure into a colocation environment where power resilience has been considered from the ground up.
When you're choosing a colocation provider, don't just ask:
"How much power do I get?"
Ask:
"What happens if one power path fails?"
That's where redundant power really matters.
Looking for resilient colocation for your customers?
VeloxServ provides colocation from its own privately owned, independent UK data centres, with options ranging from 1U space through to quarter, half and full racks and caged environments.
Our facilities combine redundant A+B power, resilient 100Gbps connectivity and ISO 27001-certified secure environments, with remote hands and delivery management included with all colocation packages.
If you're an MSP, hosting provider, IT reseller or network provider looking for a resilient home for customer infrastructure, speak to the VeloxServ team or book a tour of our data centres.
