So you want to build your own data center

Was really hoping this was was actually about building your own data center. Our town doesn't have a data center, we need to go an hour south or an hour north. The building that a past failed data center was in (which doesn't bode well for a data center in town, eh?), is up for lease and I'm tempted.

But, I'd need to start off small, probably per-cabinet UPSes and transfer switches, smaller generators. I've built up cabinets and cages before, but never built up the exterior infrastructure.

Why did it fail would be my question.

If it turns out to be any of “location, location, location” then getting a partially kitted out building may not help you.

Did they get independent data into the building via different routes? How’s the power?

Could be the data was coming in through a route that sees frequent construction. I knew a guy who ran the IT dept for a university and he discovered that the excavation crews found it was cheaper to maybe have to pay a fine for cutting data lines than it was to wait for them to be marked accurately. He spent a lot of time being stressed out.

I agree that one of the first steps would be to take someone from the previous facility out for a meal, which I can probably arrange fairly easily. I don't exactly know why it failed, it was run by the biggest local ISP. I can speculate about why they failed (DSL speeds are severely limited in our town, so really Xfinity was it, they tried providing fiber in some locations, but found it hard to keep up with fiber locate calls). The Colocation side of the business was never very big, but it's not clear if that is because there's not demand or that they just never really pushed it.

Location is fairly good, as far as data centers go. It's got relatively good network connectivity, I believe, but I don't have specifics about entrances and diversity. It is close to one of the big fiber rings around the city, I believe the ring is pulled into the facility. I don't know if they had telco fiber in, or backhauled it via the fiber ring.

Power is probably good, but not great -- I'd doubt it's fed from multiple substations. There was, at one point, some generator bays.

While I could use data center space in town, it'd be hard to convince my work to move, partly as we just signed a 3 year agreement for hosting 60 miles away, partly just because of the cost of a move. It probably should remain a pipe dream.