The Data Center: Where Should You Locate Your Facility?

By John Rath

April 15, 2008 —  (Page 1 of 3)

A monumental effort typically goes into designing IT infrastructure, networks and programs. Project plans and architecture reviews specify every last detail to ensure applications and Web sites are available 24/7/forever. It is only logical, then, that the site selection of the data center(s) to house such critical infrastructure and valuable information should follow an equally careful planning and due diligence process. Whether it is for planning a new facility, moving an existing data center, selecting a colocation provider or consolidating facilities, there are an overwhelming amount of factors, including a few new ones, to take into consideration.

Selecting a city, state or even country to locate a data center turns the normal equation for business site selection on its head. Instead of factors like labor costs and tax incentives, things like the availability and stability of power, fiber connectivity, and natural disaster avoidance top the list. With power requirements growing exponentially, a few new factors have appeared in recent years. Many are looking to see what renewable energy alternatives there are in a region under consideration, because they will need to supplement utility power. Wind, solar and hydroelectric energy, among others, now enter the selection equation and make some regions more attractive than others. Google has investigated and experimented with all three of these in their data centers. An interesting new trend is to locate facilities in cooler climates to take advantage of air or waterside economizers. By using cool outside air, economizers assist cooling systems and can help reduce energy costs in colder climates. Regions that maintain cold temperatures for a greater part of the year will see more cost savings for cooling systems.
 
A combination of a stable power supply and a long, cold winter period is prompting Microsoft to consider building a facility in Irkutsk, Siberia. Microsoft and Google have both invested in Ireland. Google is reported to be evaluating 18 different countries in Asia for future data centers. Sun Microsystems and 10 other companies are constructing a data center 100 meters underground in Japan, where the temperature is 15 degrees Celsius throughout the year. Other international interests have included India, Belgium, Iceland, Singapore and the Netherlands. Iceland is ideal for data centers because of the cool climate, low corporate tax rate and abundant renewable energy options. Iceland and other international locations could be a bad choice for many U.S. companies because of network latency, international laws and compliance, and simple logistics of quick access to equipment by U.S. employees.

Related Search Term(s): Data centers

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