Winter 2011
The Ten Best Data Center Sites in the South
There are several industry sectors that are hot right now in the South. Automotive has roared back (see www.SouthernAutoCorridor.com), aerospace is still very active, distribution is returning and clean tech -- solar, wind and other renewable energy sectors -- is another industry that is on fire. You can add another industry sector to that list -- data centers. After much research, here are SB&D's top 10 data center sites in the American South.
Bristol West Industrial Park
Bristol, Tenn.
Bristol, Tenn. has joined an elite group of locations identified by a Deloitte Consulting study as a certified data center site. The site, located at Bristol West Industrial Park, meets the criteria for electric service, fiber service, site considerations, labor accessibility and low risk for natural disaster, all of which are necessary for a data center environment, according to the Deloitte economic development study. The presence of state-of-the-art fiber optics was a major factor in Bristol's selection. The site is served by Bristol Tennessee Essential Services (www.BTES.net), which provides power, Internet, phone and fiber.
* Low risk site for natural disasters
* System is powered by Alcatel-Lucent's gigabit passive optical network (GPON) technology
* A Tennessee Valley Authority designated data center site
* Uniquely located on the Tennessee/Virginia state line
* Fiber optic connections at speeds 200 times faster than most areas
* Located in the Tri-Cities region of Tennessee, a mid-market with a population base of over 450,000
Grenada Business Park
Grenada, Miss.
The Grenada Business Park, in Grenada, Miss, was identified by Deloitte Consulting as a Primary Data Center Site as part of a TVA-sponsored study that identified sites in the Southeast that meet the criteria to support a major data center project. Part of a 110-acre park, the publicly-owned and controlled parcel is directly located on Interstate I-55 and within 90 miles of the Memphis International Airport.
* 30-plus-acre site with expansion room to 110 acres
* Redundant electric power on site
* Data centers using 5MW of power or more are eligible for TVA manufacturing rates
* Long haul fiber-optic from multiple carriers
* Access to Mississippi State University’s Certification for Information Assurance Program
* Workforce availability from local college and three state universities
Athens/McMinn Interstate Industrial Park
Athens/McMinn Co., Tenn.
The Athens/McMinn Interstate Industrial Park in Athens, Tenn. is a 350 acre industrial park with 178 acres remaining available. The park is publically owned by a development authority, is immediately adjacent to Interstate 75, and has sites with Interstate exposure. The park is equidistant between Knoxville and Chattanooga (55 miles), and is, therefore, equal in driving time to two commercial airports (TYS and CHA). All utilities and communications support are available at the industrial park including fiber optic service and redundant electric power.
* Athens/McMinn Interstate Industrial Park
* Acreage available: 178 (71.2 Hectares)
* Topo map available: 2’ Contour Intervals
* Utilities: Electric – 69 kv and 161 kv; Natural Gas – 6”; Water – 12”; Sewer – 10”
MidAmerica Industrial Park
Pryor Creek, Okla.
At 9,000 acres, MidAmerica is Oklahoma’s largest industrial park. The park is home to nearly 80 firms including 15 Fortune / Global 500 divisions. Operations range from chemicals, industrial gases, plastics and paper production to food processing, light manufacturing, precision machining and data centers including Google. The growth of the data center sector at MidAmerica is expected to continue due to an established network of electrical generation facilities, water and wastewater treatment plants, and a state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure.
* 20-50 percent savings on “wholesale” electrical costs
* Broadband fiber optic networks; two points-of-presence (POP’s)
* Four SONET protected networks provide switched services, ATM and frame relay
* Water rates are the lowest published rates of any city in the state
T5@Kings Mountain
Kings Mountain, N.C.
The T5 Kings Mountain site already has a 150,000 square foot purpose-built data center shell under construction. The site has 260-plus-acres for additional data center build-to-suits. The building will be ready during 1st quarter of 2011.
* Up to 120 MW is available
* Low cost reliable power
* Dual circuit 100 KV grid connector – built-in redundancy at transmission level
* Multiple fiber providers
* Redundant water supply from two sources
* 25-minute drive to Charlotte International Airport
StrataSpace
Near Louisville, Ky.
If you're searching for the ultimate protection for your data, you have to dig beneath the surface. StrataSpace is a one-of-a-kind facility designed to be the most secure and operationally efficient data center ever developed. The 570,000-square-foot facility is 60-feet underground and carved out of solid limestone, which provides an unparallel level of security. StrataSpace is located in Kentucky just northeast of Louisville.
* Safe from all natural threats
* Some of the lowest utility rates in the country, combined with HVAC efficiencies in StrataSpace, result in reduced operating costs as compared to above-ground data centers.
* 4 megawatts of power with approval to build a 40-MW onsite substation
* Redundant fiber
DataSite
Orlando, Fla.
DataSite Orlando is a purpose-built data center located in Orlando, Fla. The Tier III facility is a 130,000-square-foot data center constructed to provide N+1 redundancy on all critical environmental infrastructure. The compartmental design isolates all critical infrastructures from the raised floor areas. There are dual 12.4 Megawatt utility feeds from separate power grids which are backed up by three massive jet turbine generators.
* Network neutral access to major telecommunication carriers and Internet backbones through underground concrete encased fiber duct banks
* Clients can select vendors, networks and protocols
* Served by AT&T, TW Telecom, Brighthouse, XO and Verizon
* Dual 12.4 Megawatt utility feeds
Scott County Regional Business and Technology Park
Duffield, Va.
TVA and Chicago-based Deloitte Consulting have named a site in Duffield, Va. as a ready-for-development data center site. Existing infrastructure that is in place within the Duffield area includes two telecommunication broadband providers as well as high capability electric power from the Powell Valley Electric Cooperative.
* A Tier III certified data center
* Home to an existing ATAC data center, OnePartner
* A TVA certified data center site with TVA power through electric cooperative
* Specifically designed to house computer systems and components for Internet search engines, financial transaction processors and other high-tech industries
* Fiber redundancy
QTS
Richmond, Va.
Quality Technology Services opened its new 1.3-million-square-foot data center campus in Richmond in November. QTS purchased the former Qimonda semiconductor plant last year and retrofitted the facility for data center use. QTS is offering custom data suites from 1,000 to 50,000 square feet, as well as co-location and managed service options.
* Existing infrastructure includes 22,000 tons of chiller capacity on site
* Power capacity of 100 megawatts
* Huge facility with 1.3 million square feet
* Located near all federal government facilities in Washington, D.C.
GigaParks
Southern Virginia
Southern Virginia is so wired up that we really couldn't pick a specific site in that part of the state as one of our best data center sites simply because there are so many of them. But you can't go wrong with any of the 60 GigaParks in Southern Virginia. Microsoft Corp. discovered that when it picked Mecklenburg County, Va. for a $499 million next generation data center (Gen4) last summer. The project is the largest capital investment in Southern Virginia history.
* Advanced 800-plus-mile fiber optic broadband network that connects all of Virginia's GigaParks
* Layer 1, 400-gigabit-per-second backbone network provides direct connections to key Internet peering points in Northern Virginia
* Low power and bandwidth costs
* No router hops to international carriers and Tier 1 peering points
* Over 60 sites to choose from, mostly in rural Virginia