Manitoba to Data Centers: No Thanks!

Last year we reported that a number of large data center builders were investigating Manitoba as a location for power-hungry server farms. With power costs driving many data center site location processes, and corporate mandates for “green” facilities, the central Canadian province’s ample supply of affordable hydro and wind power is attractive. In early 2008 Manitoba Hydro was approached by several name-brand data center builders.

Although data center companies are interested in Manitoba, it turns out Manitoba isn’t much interested in data centers. That’s the word from Manitoban blogger Rod Edwards. “I called the provincial department of Science, Technology, Energy and Mines (STEM), and had a very nice conversation with a representative who told me that Manitoba had, in fact, been contacted by a number of large datacenter investors, and that we had declined to compete for their investments,” Edwards reports.

FedEx Expands Colorado Springs Data Center

Federal Express is building out unfinished space in its Colorado Springs data center, and adding an addition to boot, reports the Colorado Springs Gazette. The paper says FedEx is converting an unfinished 35,838-square-foot second floor of the FedEx data center into technical space, and also adding a 24,000 square foot expansion. The company is also adding five new generators to provide backup power for the expanded footprint.

“We are upgrading our existing information technology operation in Colorado Springs and expect the project to be completed in late 2010,” FedEx spokesman Jim McCluskey told the Gazette. “While we don’t disclose specific information about our information technology operations, we anticipate the facility will qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification once it is completed.”

FedEx began building the 113,000 square foot data center in 2007. The new building replaced a leased data center facility that was about half that size.

What is ‘Project Bacon’?

What is “Project Bacon?” That’s the code name adopted by economic development Officials in Palm Beach County, Florida for a mystery company seeking a 50-acre site to build an office complex and data center. A project profile circulating among property owners describes a plan to build 740,000 square feet of office space between 2010 and 2015 to house 2,740 employees, along with a 50,000 square foot data center that will employ 150 workers.

County officials have presented about 15 or 20 large sites to the company, according to the Palm Beach Post. The paper’s blog added additional details of the project description:

• 2010: A 115,000-square-foot office building with 440 workers.
• 2011: A 50,000-square-foot data center with 150 workers.
• 2012: A 115,000-square-foot office building with 500 employees.
• 2012: A 60,000-square-foot “visitors center” with cafe, gym, health center and auditorium.
• 2013: A 225,000-square-foot office building for 900 workers.
• 2015: Another 225,000-square-foot office building for 900 workers.

Google, of course, is known for its use of code names when dealing with local officials. But they’re far from the only company to follow this practice, and the ratio of office-to-data center space doesn’t scream “Internet company.” The visitor’s center may narrow the range of possibiltiies.

Who’s the mystery company? We’ll keep tracking this one. But it’s interesting to see another large economic development project on the heels of recent site searches by Yahoo and Apple. This could be a sign that these companies are gaining confidence about an economic recovery, and want to strike deals while real estate is cheap and local officials are hungry for projects.  

Koman Eyes Missouri Plot for Data Center

The Koman Group is working with officials in Boone County, Missouri to develop a 192-acre tract as a data center, according to local media reports. Koman was one of the developers of a huge speculative project in Illinois that was later leased by Microsoft and will soon become one of the world’s largest data centers.

Koman is working with property owner Grindstone Investments, the city of Columbia and regional development agencies to gain necessary approvals to rezone the land for use as a data center. “One of the targeted industries for Columbia, Boone County and the state is data centers,” Chad Sayre, project engineer with Allstate Consultants, told The Missourian.

Verizon Wireless Buys Colorado Fab Site

Verizon Wireless has acquired a former Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. chip plant in Colorado Springs, Colo. and plans to convert the 108,450 square foot building into a next-generation data center. The company expects to take about a year to complete work on the facility, which will be part of Verizon Wireless’ plans to expand its network capacity to accommodate growth in video traffic.

The project is the latest to feature the conversion of a former semiconductor facility for use as a data center. Like data centers, semiconductor plants require large power capacity, limiting the need for acquiring additional power from utilities. Some previous conversions:

• In 2006 HP purchased three buildings on the Austin, Texas campus of Freescale Semiconductor for use as part of its massive consolidation of 85 legacy data centers into six new facilities.
• Intel (INTC) converted one of its silicon chip fabrication facilities into a high-density data center, including an ultra-high density section supporting up to 30kw per cabinet. A video tour is available.
• In 2008, Fortune Data Centers announced that plans to convert a former Seagate fabrication facility in San Jose, Calif. into a 140,000 square foot data center. 

Verizon Wireless paid $6.4 million for the site near Garden of the Gods Road in Colorado Springs, which was built for Vitesse in 1997 and used to make gallium arsenide chips. Vitesse paid $27.4 million to buy the building in 2002, but then closed the facility a year later.

Center 7 Acquires Colo Provider Tier Four

In a deal combining Utah colocation providers, Center 7 Inc. has acquired Tier Four, the companies said today. Center 7 is also changing its name to C7 Data Centers Inc.

C7 has four data centers, including a new 10,500 square foot data center in Lindon, Utah. The deal adds facilities operated by Tier Four in Orem and Salt Lake City. C7 has plans to open additional green data center facilities in the south portion of Salt Lake County and northern Utah.

“Our new company name—C7 Data Centers—accompanied by corporate re-branding will better represent the company, its success, growth, and goals,” said Nathan Hatch, President and CEO of C7.

Core NAP: Another Local Data Center Story

We’ve highlighted a number of success stories featuring local data center companies that focus on regional business markets outside the major Internet hubs. Another of these companies, Core NAP, is featured this morning in the Austin American Statesman.  The story discusses “little guy data centers” building niches in local markets.

There’s an interesting wrinkle in the Core NAP story: Founders Kenneth Smith and Frank Bieser founded a company called Jump.net, sold it to Allegiance Telecom in 2000, and then bought the data center back in 2002 when Allegiance began selling assets. Core NAP has an 11,000 square foot facility.

Small Markets Yearn for Big Data Centers

The map of the data center world is being redrawn in surprising ways. When I first began writing about data centers in 2000, the industry was focused on buildings in fiber-rich connectivity hubs, and most conversations with economic development officials included a “Data Centers 101″ explanation of these facilities.

Times have certainly changed. Last week I attended the Mid-America Economic Development Council’s annual “competitiveness conference” in Chicago, and spoke with a room full of officials from the Midwest who are keenly interested in attracting data center projects.

I met economic development officials from modest towns in Nebraska, Iowa and the Dakotas that were well-briefed on the industry and arrived with a mandate from their governor or mayor to compete hard for data center projects.

The booming interest in the region is driven primarily by recent decisions by the three largest Internet companies to locate major projects in the region, with Google and Microsoft choosing locations in Iowa while Yahoo has set up shop in Nebraska.