CityNAP Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy

San Antonio interconnection provider CityNAP has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reporting just $100,000 in assets and $460,000 in debts, according to local media. The company, founded in 2006, told customers that it will continue to operate as it attempts to reorganize.

While the San Antonio suburb of Westover Hills has developed into a booming hub for single-tenant corporate data centers, CityNAP sought to build a network access point (NAP) in downtown San Antonio to provide interconnection services to telecom providers. CityNAP operates a 10,000 square foot carrier neutral data center at 415 North Main Street and has 18 customers, according to the San Antonio BizJournal, which said the company owes at least $230,000 to its landlord, Pecan Paragon Ltd.

Stream Realty Starts San Antonio Data Center

Stream Realty Partners has started construction on a “ready-to-fit” data center building on a 33-acre site in the Westover Hills office park in San Antonio, which has developed into a major data center hub. The Dallas real estate development company says the 150,000 square foot, structurally enhanced data center building will be offered as a “powered shell” opportunity for single-tenant enterprise users.

The facility will have eight-inch thick concrete walls and a 24-inch thick concrete roof system designed to withstand 175 mph winds, and can be expanded to 350,000 square feet while maintaining a 200-foot setback. Stream says the data center will have two 10 megawatt utility feeds, each expandable to 30 megawatts each. The primary feed will come from the recently announced 200 megawatt Westover Hills substation located immediately adjacent to the site, with the second feed available from a 200 megawatt substation located 1.5 miles from the site. Power in San Antonio is available at approximately 5 cents per kilowatt hour, the company said.

Microsoft Breaks Ground in San Antonio

Microsoft officially broke ground today on its 447,000 square foot data center in San Antonio. The software giant will invest $550 million in the project, which stands on 44 acres in the Westover Hills development. Armed with shovels, local dignitaries and Microsoft officials turned some dirt during a ceremonial event.

“It’s massive. It looks like a small town being built here,” said Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff. The project is scheduled to be completed in Juy 2008, and is expected to create 75 jobs. The San Antonio center is the second major facility being built in the U.S. to support the expansion of Microsoft’s Live line of online services, following the construction of a similar data center in Quincy, Washington. Microsoft’s commitment was announced in January, and has been followed by the announcements of data center projects by the National Security Agency, Stream Realty and Christus Health Systems.

Hospital Picks San Antonio for Data Center

The data center clustering phenomenon continues to gain momentum in San Antonio, where another company has announced a new data center project in the Westover Hills area. Christus Health plans to build a $21 million data center on 10 acres in Westover Hills, near where Microsoftis building a huge new data center. Dallas-based Christus Health is one of the 10 largest Catholic health systems in the country, and plans to build a 43,000 square foot data center, with a site plan that allows for expansion in 25,000 square foot increments.

Microsoft’s decision to locate its $550 million data center in Westover Hills has been followed by announcements of data center projects by the National Security Agency and Stream Realty. As was the case in those projects, Microsoft’s decision to build in San Antonio (which followed a national search) was cited as a factor in the data center site location for Christus.

The Data Center Clustering Effect

It’s an economic development official’s data center dream scenario: one major project prompts other companies to follow, opening the floodgates for an influx of investment and high-tech jobs.

Officials in San Antonio, Texas are living the dream, as Microsoft’s decision to locate a $550 million data center in the Westover Hills area has been followed by announcements of data center projects by the NSA and Stream Realty. The San Antonio Economic Development Foundation said it is working with five other companies looking at San Antonio for new data center sites, including some speculative projects.

San Antonio provides an example of data center clustering, in which a regional market becomes an aggregation point for many mission-critical facilities. This trend has usually been focused on major Internet markets (NYC, Washington, Silicon Valley) but is now providing opportunties for smaller markets (the industry phrase used to be second-tier markets) amid shifting criteria for data center site location.

Stream Realty Announces San Antonio Project

Stream Realty Partners has become the latest data center developer to announce plans for a facility in the booming San Antonio market. The Dallas-based developer has acquired 33 acres in the Westover Hills area for a 150,000-square-foot data center. “The demand for data-center space is extremely strong,” Stream Realty managing director Paul Moser told the Express-News.

Westover Hills is already home to Microsoft’s 470,000-square-foot data center and a $60 million Lowe’s data center. San Antonio will apparently also get an NSA data center in a former Sony plant. The San Antonio Economic Development Foundation said it is working with five other companies looking at San Antonio for new data-center sites, including some speculators.

NSA Plans San Antonio Data Center

San Antonio appears poised to win another big data center deal, this time with the National Security Agency, a significant employer in the area. The NSA plans to put a data center at the site of a former old Sony microchip plant on San Antonio’s Northwest Side, according to an announcement from the office of U.S. Rep. Charlie Gonzalez. San Antonio,

The facility will be the third major data center for San Antonio, joining a $126 million Lowe’s data center and a planned $550 million Microsoft facility. San Antonio is gaining traction in data center site location searches because it has the cheapest electricity in Texas, which is a favored region for data centers because the state has its own power grid and is less vulnerable to rippling outages on the national power grid.

The NSA’s need for additional data space may be related to infrastructure challenges at its facilities at Fort Meade, Md. where the NSA has maxed out the available power from the local utility company.

San Antonio Gets Green Data Center

CityNAP has become the first “green” data center in Texas by signing a new contract with CPS Energy to purchase all of its power from renewable wind-generated electric sources, reports the San Antonio Biz Journal (link via Environmental Leader). “A center like ours uses a lot of energy, so we’re doing everything we can to lessen our impact on the environment by using the most energy-efficient equipment and buying renewable energy,” CityNAP President Frank R. Robles says.

CityNAP is a 10,000 square foot carrier neutral data center and Internet hub in downtown San Antonio, which is emerging as an attractive market for data center site location due to its combination of affordable local power and few natural disaster risks. But San Antonio did not have a network access point, to provide interconnections for network service providers.

Microsoft Confirms Huge San Antonio Center

Microsoft on Thursday confirmed plans to build a 470,000 square foot data center project in San Antonio, making it official after the San Antonio City Council approved a $20.7 million tax abatement package. Mike Manos, senior director of Microsoft Data Center Services, said the two-building complex will operate around the clock housing Web pages, e-mail and instant message servers, and all kinds of Web-based applications. Microsoft says it will invest at least $550 million in the project, and said that estimate could be conservative.

The software giant is scaling up its data center infrastructure as it moved to a “software as a service” model focused around delivering consumer and business services through web portals like Office Live. Microsoft broke ground last June on a 75-acre data storage facility in Quincy, Washington which could eventually psan 1.4 million square feet.

The project still must go before the Bexar County Commissioners Court, which is expected to approve a similar package of incentives. The tax abatement was approved for 44 acres of undeveloped land in the Westover Hills development at 5150 Rogers Road. The city is also asking CPS Energy to approve up to $5.2 million in assistance to help pay for electrical infrastructure for the project.

San Antonio Mulls $25M Package for Microsoft

The San Antonio City Council will consider giving Microsoft a 10-year tax abatement valued at $20 million to gain a commitment for a massive 470,000 square foot data center, according to local media reports. The tax abatement is being considered for 44 acres in the Westover Hills development at 5150 Rogers Road. The city is also asking CPS Energy to approve up to $5.2 million in assistance to help pay for electrical infrastructure for the project from CPS Energy’s Community Infrastructure and Economic Development Fund. The incentive package will be considered in a meeting today.

Reports of the cost of Microsoft’s project have ranged from $600 million up to $980 million. Mike Manos, senior director of Microsoft Data Center Services, placed the company’s investment at $550 million, but said that was a “conservative figure.”

The incentive package needs approval because the center will create only 75 jobs, short of the 500 job miniumum required for an abatement longer than six years. Local economic development officials are pushing hard for approval, saying it is essential to gain a commitment from Microsoft. Winning the Microsoft project would also help establish San Antonio as a destination for enterpise data center development.