Before ordering an inference server or modular AI shelter, establish what the site can support. Infrastela recommends resolving five questions early, so the equipment proposal and the facilities plan describe the same deployment.
1. What must the workload deliver?
Record the application, model or video pipeline, expected simultaneous demand and response-time target. Identify which data must remain on site. Agree how a pilot will demonstrate acceptable performance before committing to expansion.
2. What electrical capacity is actually available?
Ask for an equipment schedule and an assessment of usable supply capacity. Include servers, storage, networking, cooling and backup-system requirements. GPU power alone is not a facility load. In its deployment guidance, NVIDIA treats power, cooling and space as interdependent constraints.
3. Can cooling support the ordered configuration?
Check heat removal, airflow paths and the operating conditions at the equipment inlet. The selected CPU, GPU and memory configuration matters: Dell publishes configuration-specific thermal restrictions for the PowerEdge R760xa. An outdoor shelter also needs a site-specific environmental assessment.
4. Can equipment be delivered and maintained?
Review the delivery route, unloading and staging space, door openings, floor or foundation loads and service access. NVIDIA's planning guide includes receiving and equipment movement as deployment considerations. For a shelter, include siting, utility routes and the approvals applicable to the location in the project scope.
5. Who owns connectivity and acceptance?
Separate internet access from local server, storage and management networking. Record data-transfer volumes, carrier availability and resilience needs. Assign an owner to each interface and agree acceptance evidence: workload results, monitoring, configuration records and operating documentation.
Turn the answers into a project brief
Our recommended starting deliverable is a requirements register: each assumption, its owner, the evidence needed and its status. Bring that register into the equipment discussion before fixing the scope.
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Infrastela Insights | Site readiness. This guide supports early planning; final equipment and site requirements depend on the project.