With Softlayer I get multiple locations (transparently routed 100% transparent backend connectivity), get 1-2 hrs provisioning speed, I do not need to worry about networking and hardware. Failed drives (when they fail, which happens rarely since the hardware they use is REALLY good) are replaced within an hour.

Colocation is a very different beast and I certainly would not encourage anybody to do that until a very large scale when rented hardware economics stop working for them.