Shipping to colocations and data centers

Designing, building, and maintaining a technical infrastructure globally is time consuming and difficult for multinational companies. Before hardware can even land in a data center, teams need to figure out what hardware to buy, who to buy it from, where it needs to go, and by when. After you figure all of that out, you still need to figure out how to get the infrastructure to its intended site, and that is the problem that FGX Go solves.

Why is shipping IT infrastructure globally so difficult?

When meeting a new client it is common for them to tell us that they have tried to build their own shipping processes from the USA. For one reason or another, however, they fail to meet their desired outcomes. We’ve seen companies face issues when shipping to both “easy” countries, like Australia and Spain, and “difficult” countries, like Brazil and India. Common issues were things like: missing paperwork, not having an entity with the proper import authorizations, not being able to resolve customs inquiries, and so on and so forth.

Why do these issues come about? Because equipment in the IT infrastructure category, like servers, switches, routers, are typically high value, electronic, and highly regulated. These three attributes are make shipping IT infrastructure globally complicated. Very few companies have full stack logistics teams, let alone specialized InfraOps IT teams, that know how to manage through the global IT supply-chain and its complexities. This makes it almost impossible for teams to have a holistic solution for shipping IT infrastructure to their global data centers and colocations. We often find that this reduces the client team’s self sovereignty and flexibility, as they may not be able to consume and commercialize the assets in the way they want. Teams may even find that they have limited hardware options in certain markets as well.

In order to seamlessly and properly (meaning all regulations are abided by) move infrastructure between international borders, one needs to have an expert understanding of: how the channel operates, commercialization, compliance, international trade regulations, import tax, logistics, and much more – which is what FGX specializes in.

FGX Go combines our global supply-chain expertise with our logistical capabilities to provide a turnkey, door-to-data center shipping solution for multinational businesses. FGX makes shipping IT infrastructure easy and stress-free, which enables teams to focus on what they’re good at while being able to deploy infrastructure wherever they need to, whenever they need to.

What is FGX Go?

FGX Go is our turnkey, door-to-data center shipping solution that’s built for companies of all sizes and industries. Whether you’re looking to setup a new data center or ship to an existing PoP, we’ll manage everything from the time you order the equipment from your reseller or OEM to the second it’s delivered to its destination.

How does FGX Go work?

FGX Go is a service level that enables our clients to obtain quotes on a shipment-by-shipment basis and doesn’t lock you into any contracts, allowing you flexibility to scale up and down as needed. When we provide our quotes, we’ll also do an import check to make sure that the equipment is eligible for use in the country you’re looking to ship to. We’ll also let you know what we’ll be executing on your behalf (for example, applying for permits, funding international deferment accounts, etc.) and how long it’ll take so that you can plan your deployments in advance.

What’s special about FGX Go is that our quotes take into account your company’s international footprint to look for cost reduction and operational efficiency wherever possible. For example, the reduction or elimination of import VAT in certain countries or the capability to reclaim it in others.

After a shipment’s quote is approved, FGX will prepare all of the documentation and licenses, perform all of the necessary compliance work, fund duties and taxes, etc., prior to anything being shipped out. By doing so, we limit the amount of time your hardware is sitting in international customs, thus reducing uncertainty and risk in the process. Once all of the documentation and pre-shipment work have been approved, your equipment will be routed via our private supply-chain to its destination’s port of entry, where our in-house customs brokers take over.

During customs clearance, officials may inquire about the import by asking questions, requesting backup documentation, and more – all of which FGX will manage on your behalf. After customs clearance has been completed, we’ll arrange for the shipment to be delivered via a direct drive to the data center or colocation site and provide you with a POD (proof of delivery).

How much work will I have to do?

As little as possible. There are, however, situations where our clients want to commercialize their shipments in a specific way and in order for FGX to make that happen, we have to work with their international counterparts. In cases like that, our clients have to do a bit of administrative and communication work, but throughout the entire process, FGX acts as the project manager and takes ownership over moving things forward. But in 99% of shipments, FGX is able to manage all of the shipments with zero end-user interaction.