Personally I'd go with Softlayer. They have a stellar track record, and great pricing. Just like anywhere else, however, don't take their web pricing as law, but call them up and talk to them about your business.<p>If you really want to buy hardware, I'd look at HP or Sun. Dell is cheap, and you get what you pay for. HP &#38; Sun have very functional and reliable remote management cards that will help ensure a minimal of on-site management time (I've built out datacenters with 500+ HP servers remotely, only having gone on-site to supervise the physical work of my contractors.)<p>As for colocation, that's a bigger question involving expected growth, your physical and network needs, your remote hands requirements, etc.