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Yahoo Eyes Washington State for Data Center
Search giant Yahoo is contemplating a data center in Grant County, Washington, according to the Columbia Basin Herald. Yahoo is seeking a long-term commitment to use the Zipp Network, a fiber optic network maintained by the Grant County Public Utility District. Another attraction is the cost of electricity, with power averaging less than 2 cents per kilowatt hour, according to local officials.
PUD General Manager Tim Culbertson said "one of Yahoo's founders" visited the area last week to inspect sites (which would presumabkly mean either Jerry Yang or David Filo). No specific sites were mentioned, but Grant County includes Moses Lake, where several data center ventures have sought to develop portions of an old Air Force base used to build Titan rockets.
"I don't think it's a secret they are thinking about coming here," said CUlnertson, who added that Yahoo's plans would include about 40 local employees. "I think they're a long ways down the road on this."
November 29, 2005
IX Europe Expands With London Data Center
IXEurope announced Nov. 21 that it will expand in London, retrofitting an existing 30,000 square foot facility for use as a premium data center. The company said it had already signed customers to fill 20 percent of the space, which will come online in January. IXEurope said the center will be "the first new significant facility to be opened in London in over four years." It is the company's third facility in London and tenth across Europe following its acquisition last month of a 13-acre business continuity campus in Frankfurt, Germany.
As for specs, IXEurope said the new site will be built to a power density of 1,200 Watts/m2 (or about 400 watts per square foot), a far higher specification than many existing facilities, and already has multiple fibre optic connectivity from BT, COLT and MCI. "This acquisition is part of a Europe-wide expansion plan which we are executing over the coming months at IXEurope," said Guy Willner, CEO of IXEurope. "Having reviewed our business we decided on a plan to ensure the next five years' growth for the company based on our significant success rate in providing high-end datacentre services to enterprise and web businesses across Europe. This new London IXDatacentre puts us in a commanding position in the market."
Posted by Rich Miller 
November 29, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
Next-Gen Data Center Folded Into Byte & Switch
CMP's Next-Gen Data Center Forum web site has been combined with Byte and Switch, along with Storage Pipeline. "We think the combination of all three sites an unprecedented forum for storage networking professionals," said the announcement from Byte And Switch. CMP recently acquired Byte and Switch and Next-Gen Forum as part of its purchase of the Light Reading network. Storage Pipeline was an existing CMP site.
We wish them well. But there's also lots more to data centers than storage networking, and you can count on Data Center Knowledge to continue our exclusive focus on the data center sector.
Posted by Rich Miller November 29, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
November 27, 2005
Linkage : Physical Security, More Euro Deals
I'm back online after a break for the Thanksgiving holiday. Here are some links from the past two weeks that are worthwhile reading for data center professionals and investors:
- 19 Ways to Build Physical Security into a Data Center: CSO Magazine takes a thorough look at the specifics of hardening a facility against an attack. Not all of these may seem essential or necessary, but they're worth considering. Many were not part of the planning process prior to 9-11, but were mandatory for big ticket clients afterwards. Many empty facilities went unleased because they couldn't meet some of these criteria, especially on setbacks.
- Web Host TeleCity Consolidates With Redbus Buy: A comprehensive look at a European deal from Philbert Shih at Web Host Industry Review. A summary: "The colocation market in Europe underwent a major consolidation earlier this month with TeleCity entering into an agreement to buy rival Redbus Interhouse in an all-stock transaction."
Posted by Rich Miller November 27, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
November 12, 2005
Go Daddy Pays $9.5M for Phoenix Data Center
Domain registrar Go Daddy recently had a ribbon-cutting on its new Phoenix data center at 1402 E. Buckeye, a 270,000 square foot facility it recently purchased for $9.2 million. The site was previously owned by Sterling Properties, which runs the city's major carrier hotel, the Downtown Phoenix Technology Center.
"We look forward to enriching our relationship with the city of Phoenix and the chance to be a part of its development," said Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons. "Both Phoenix and Go Daddy are growing at a rapid pace. It’s a great fit."
Posted by Rich Miller November 12, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
November 10, 2005
DC Power Options in Data Centers Debated
Search DataCenter has published the final in its series of articles on power-saving technologies in the data center. Among them is a DC-powered server serup, in which the power supply is housed in the rack rather than the server itself. The article has prompted a discussion on Slashdot as well.
The two sides to the debate over DC power are summarized by a quote from Bob Doherty, data center manager at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston:
"Research facilities, scientific environments - places with more engineering expertise than the average data center - are having success," Doherty said. "It's been said that DC power will save 25% to 50% off my bill, and that's really intriguing, especially since my electric company just announced a 27% increase in price. But I'm fearful [of DC systems] from the standpoint of outages. Are you going to hire a DC power engineer to help me with this system? Now I have a totally new environment - I have no one to turn to, and that would scare the hell out of me."And you know how much data center managers like uncertainty and surprises.
Posted by Rich Miller November 10, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
November 05, 2005
eBay to Build Data Center in Phoenix
Internet auction goliath eBay said Friday that it will build a data center in the Phoenix area. The company didn't indicate the exact site or planned square footage of the new facility, which will be its seventh in the United States, including centers in the Bay Area, Sacramento and Denver.
eBay is the latest company to decide to build a brand new data center rather than buy an existing facility. In some cases, companies will build because the available data centers in the market can't support their specifications. In other cases, there's not enough space and/or no finished properties available.
Either way, the decision is another big win for Phoenix, as eBay becomes the third major technology company to announce an expansion in Phoenix, following earlier moves by Google and Intel.
Posted by Rich Miller November 05, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
November 03, 2005
Will Level 3 Buy Broadwing Next?
Om Malik of GigaOm has broken quite a few major stories in the telecom sector in recent months. Om says another bandwidth deal is in the works:
My sources tell me that within weeks Level 3 will make a play for Broadwing. Using the same metrics as WilTel, the price for Broadwing could be around $500 million, and the deal could come before Thanksgiving.You remember Broadwing? Yep, the "beautiful network" with the wacky commercials with Dennis Hopper.
Om also notes that October was the best month ever for the GigaOm blog, with 4.6 million page-views and 81 gigabytes of data transfer. Fifty-one percent of that traffic is from RSS. Om is providing a compelling example of how "stand-alone journalists" are making an impact and making a living on their craft.
Posted by Rich Miller November 03, 2005 | Permalink | Newsletter
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