White glove delivery and inside delivery through partners

What white glove means on a data center move

For a data center the phrase usually covers a specific list: delivering loaded racks, network cabinets, UPS modules and coolant distribution units through the loading dock and the freight corridor to the data hall, moving them over ramps and raised floors on the right equipment, setting and leveling them in their positions, removing crates and packaging, and sometimes bolting the racks down. On an office or a hospital it may mean a single piece of equipment carried up a freight elevator and placed in a room.

It is skilled work with its own equipment: stair climbers, air skates for raised floors, floor protection, rated pallet jacks and lift tables, and crews who know not to roll a 3,000 pound rack across a floor that was built for 1,500.

How we arrange it, honestly

We are a trucking company and a broker, and our own staff are drivers and dispatchers, not rigging crews. The inside work is done by white glove and rigging partners in each market, companies that do this every day, and we arrange and schedule them as part of the move. You get one quote, one schedule and one phone number: the truck and the crew arrive together, the driver and the crew lead have each other's numbers, and the signed delivery paperwork covers placement, not just the dock.

We would rather say that clearly than imply we have crews in every city. The partners are the people with the stair climbers and the raised floor experience, and the value we add is sequencing them with the truck and the site so nobody waits on anybody.

Planning the inside path

Every inside delivery is planned from the dock to the final position before the truck is dispatched. That means the dock height and whether a lift gate is needed, the door widths and ceiling heights on the route, the freight elevator's capacity and cab size, ramps and their grades, the floor type and its rating, and the exact positions on the floor plan. For a data hall it also means the hall's cleanliness rules, which often require packaging to be removed in a staging area rather than inside the hall, and the security check in for the crew as well as the driver.

When the path will not take the piece, we find out before the truck leaves, not at the elevator. The answer may be a different door, a crane through an opening, or delivering to a staging warehouse while the building catches up.

Where we offer it

Inside delivery through partners is available in the markets where we already book trucks for other freight: Los Angeles and the Inland Empire, Orange County, San Diego, the Bay Area and Sacramento, Phoenix and Tucson, Las Vegas and Reno, Salt Lake City, Boise, Portland and the Puget Sound. In smaller markets we quote it case by case and tell you whether a crew is available for your date.

What we need to quote

• The pieces: count, dimensions, weights and whether they are crated, on skids or on casters
• The building: dock or ground level, elevator capacity, door and ceiling clearances, floor type
• The final positions, from a floor plan if there is one, and whether placement includes leveling or bolting
• Packaging removal and where debris can go
• Security and scheduling rules for the crew, and the hours the building allows inside work