Build a Data Center

Data Centers. I once thought having a data center was not a big deal. Well that was when I only had a handful of servers in my office in Morgan City. Since I merged my companies into the IDS family, I have been exposed to the real world of Data Centers (DC). The cost involved in building out a "real" data center still amaze me.
Let's consider the components required to build a DC. First, if you building a DC in Louisiana, you must have a building that can withstand a Category 5 hurricane. It must be located near affordable redundant fiber transport.
Next you need redundant power grid capability, redundant fuel supplies, dual self powered generators and redundant cooling plants. Now we have a building with electricity, well almost. We now need the ability to switch between generators and power grid without the dropping power to end-users.
The question that must be answered before you purchase a battery system to handle the switch is how long to you want stay on battery power before your transfer to generators. I have seen some other large data centers (not well run) that have had < less 1 minute of battery to carry the transfer. To be fair this limited time was because the center was not properly managed. You need enough time to be comfortable that your generator can come on line and get to full power capacity. We choose 6-8 hours of battery time. This gives us time, even in the case of primary and secondary generator failure, to either repair or bring in portable generators. It does not pay to go any longer than this due the heat load. The center would be overheated without the A/C running after 6 hours (2) hours in August. Add rack enclosures, ladder systems, power distribution, cabling, A/C (TONS).
Now you have a room with almost everything you need. Can you say "Transit Bandwidth"? You need at least two paths on diverse routes to Tier 1 providers or peering points. We chose to have express routes to Atlanta and Dallas and protected SONET and Ethernet Ring for connection to Hunt Telecom which allows us additional redundancy to other providers and paths. We own our own Fiber routes, IRUs and high capacity waves on virtually every physical path out of Louisiana.
Now you have multi millions invested and/or tied up for collateral to sell rack space for $1,000 to $1,500 per rack. Oh yeah- don't forget the fuel usage bill for the generators and electricity.
I hope this explains why rack space is not free or cheap. When it is cheap you must ask yourself, what is missing?