In your company, if installing a new server involves someone driving to a data centre with a pizza box and a screw driver, you are doing it wrong. With the advent of cloud computing, adding a new server should be as simple as clicking a button on an admin panel or making an API call.

I have no idea what make or model of hardware Linode, AWS, or Digital Ocean use, and I don't care: that is their problem, and I have chosen to outsource that problem to them. This enables me to focus on adding real value to the business by easily provisioning new servers to host new applications, rather than having to wait for capital expenditure (capex) approval to provision expensive new hardware.

Frankly it is better for the business to use cloud providers, as costs are lower (no capex!), system admin teams can be smaller, and projects are not blocked or delayed due to the lack of suitable hardware on time.

Server hardware provisioning has been solved, by companies that are selling server resources via cloud solutions on a scale you can only dream about for your bespoke hardware solution. The only consideration you should have is what provider offers the best deal and service.

Credits

Server room image from camknows on Flickr