5 ms·

As a side note, there may actually be more datacenter space in Texas than there is in California. I wish I could find accurate statistics on this to prove it ei

As a side note, there may actually be more datacenter space in Texas than there is in California. I wish I could find accurate statistics on this to prove it either way, but I'm pretty sure I'm right. Disclaimer: It's rare my day job actually intersects with HN even though I'm in the Internet industry.

sremani 9y ago
To my knowledge DFW has multiple data centers, Facebook @ Ft.Worth being most famous among them. Not sure, if Toyota already built their Datacenter in Plano.
- brightball 9y ago
  I've always thought the Rackspace data center there was more well known.
  - ericabiz 9y ago
    Rackspace HQ is is in a former shopping mall outside of San Antonio. Definitely a cool place to tour if you ever get the chance. You can still see where the "stores" were (they're now employee workspaces.)
    - msisk6 9y ago
      Less cool place to work. Very, very noisy. Steps were taken to reduce the noise level but it wasn't enough.
  - blunte 9y ago
    Rackspace may be "the original" datacenter for Texas. At least, they're the original data center for the internet age.
- DiabloD3 9y ago
  Digital Realty and Equinix both have multiple huge datacenters, the Informart[1] houses several gigantic datacenters inside of one building (it's mind boggling how utterly big it is), Internap has an absolutely gigantic facility there, Rackspace has I think their biggest facility here, and then there's a smattering of smaller datacenters (in and out of the Infomart) owned by every major player. There's so much space here that most companies have only recently started chasing after highly dense stuff (like 60+ drive arrays in 4U, hyper-dense blades, etc) because there just is no need to. And as a side note, Texas now operates the largest number of wind turbines (by MW) and I think per capita as well. Texas now generates so much power that they regularly sell it to nearby states because the whole "long term storage" problem hasn't been solved at the scale Texas needs it to be... Which means not only is datacenter space plentiful, the power is often less expensive than it is in other markets. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infomart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infomart
- sjm-lbm 9y ago
  There are several data centers that are being built around the Toyota facility in Plano, but none are branded as Toyota data centers - I'm assuming that's what you mean. They aren't online yet. I'd also add that Softlayer is based in Dallas, and operates several data centers throughout the DFW area.
  - unexpected 9y ago
    The T5 Data center near Toyota is operational, but they keep building to expand it. The space is HUGE!
- edwhitesell 9y ago
  Northeast of Dallas, I know of at least 2 being built, and I suspect at least 3 others. I'm sure there are many, many more. RagingWire is possibly the largest single company building a single campus/facility at the moment[0], and only about 2 miles from my house. It's quite impressive when you drive by and see the utterly massive power substation they built across the street too. While the Telecom Corridor[1] name is somewhat dated, it's still growing. [0]: http://www.ragingwire.com/wholesale/wholesale-data-center-dallas-texas-tx1 http://www.ragingwire.com/wholesale/wholesale-data-center-da... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecom_Corridor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecom_Corridor edit: formatting
ericabiz 9y ago
I'm 99% sure you're right. I ran a dedicated server/colo hosting company for 6 years. Texas is favored for the following reasons: Cheaper energy Cheaper real estate No earthquake retrofitting of datacenters Low ping times to Midwest vs. California Cheaper employees; less biz liability insurance required No state income tax Honestly, many of these are the same reasons I ended up moving to Texas after I sold my hosting company (which was based in San Jose.) I run a business here now with 15 employees and it's significantly cheaper to run it here vs. California. As a side benefit, I can also afford to own a nice house with a yard my daughter and dog can play in in a great area of Austin for about 1/5 of what it would cost in San Jose.
- JumpCrisscross 9y ago
  > Low ping times to Midwest vs. California Why is reaching the Midwest so important?
  - DiabloD3 9y ago
    In particular, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA and the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA are the 4th and 5th largest in the USA, are the fastest growing in the nation, and combined are about as big as the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA (which is #2). The Chicago market (which is also very well served by Texas due to an almost direct link to DFW's Infomart, but also has a strong DC market) is the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA, and is #3 on the list, and is slightly larger than Dallas and Houston's MSAs. The three combined are 23.5 million people, and just the 3 biggest metros to note, and about a third of the people covered in the midwest. California's ping and the ping from DCs serving the Northeast (NYC MSA is #1, DC/MD/VA MSA is #6, PA/NJ-outside-of-NYC MSA is #7, Boston-Cambridge MSA is #10) is just too high for a lot of use cases. I dunno about you, but I'm not going to tell about a third of the US population I can't serve them. There is a United States outside of California and NYC. Edit: For completion's sake, #8 is Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, #9 is Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell (which both of those also are served decently by DFW, but also by DCs in VA) and the 10 largest MSAs together is about 85 million people, or about 26% of the US's population.
  - 9y ago

sremani 9y ago

To my knowledge DFW has multiple data centers, Facebook @ Ft.Worth being most famous among them. Not sure, if Toyota already built their Datacenter in Plano.

brightball 9y ago
I've always thought the Rackspace data center there was more well known.
- ericabiz 9y ago
  Rackspace HQ is is in a former shopping mall outside of San Antonio. Definitely a cool place to tour if you ever get the chance. You can still see where the "stores" were (they're now employee workspaces.)
  - msisk6 9y ago
    Less cool place to work. Very, very noisy. Steps were taken to reduce the noise level but it wasn't enough.
- blunte 9y ago
  Rackspace may be "the original" datacenter for Texas. At least, they're the original data center for the internet age.
DiabloD3 9y ago
Digital Realty and Equinix both have multiple huge datacenters, the Informart[1] houses several gigantic datacenters inside of one building (it's mind boggling how utterly big it is), Internap has an absolutely gigantic facility there, Rackspace has I think their biggest facility here, and then there's a smattering of smaller datacenters (in and out of the Infomart) owned by every major player. There's so much space here that most companies have only recently started chasing after highly dense stuff (like 60+ drive arrays in 4U, hyper-dense blades, etc) because there just is no need to. And as a side note, Texas now operates the largest number of wind turbines (by MW) and I think per capita as well. Texas now generates so much power that they regularly sell it to nearby states because the whole "long term storage" problem hasn't been solved at the scale Texas needs it to be... Which means not only is datacenter space plentiful, the power is often less expensive than it is in other markets. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infomart https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infomart
sjm-lbm 9y ago
There are several data centers that are being built around the Toyota facility in Plano, but none are branded as Toyota data centers - I'm assuming that's what you mean. They aren't online yet. I'd also add that Softlayer is based in Dallas, and operates several data centers throughout the DFW area.
- unexpected 9y ago
  The T5 Data center near Toyota is operational, but they keep building to expand it. The space is HUGE!
edwhitesell 9y ago
Northeast of Dallas, I know of at least 2 being built, and I suspect at least 3 others. I'm sure there are many, many more. RagingWire is possibly the largest single company building a single campus/facility at the moment[0], and only about 2 miles from my house. It's quite impressive when you drive by and see the utterly massive power substation they built across the street too. While the Telecom Corridor[1] name is somewhat dated, it's still growing. [0]: http://www.ragingwire.com/wholesale/wholesale-data-center-dallas-texas-tx1 http://www.ragingwire.com/wholesale/wholesale-data-center-da... [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecom_Corridor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telecom_Corridor edit: formatting

ericabiz 9y ago

I'm 99% sure you're right. I ran a dedicated server/colo hosting company for 6 years. Texas is favored for the following reasons: Cheaper energy Cheaper real estate No earthquake retrofitting of datacenters Low ping times to Midwest vs. California Cheaper employees; less biz liability insurance required No state income tax Honestly, many of these are the same reasons I ended up moving to Texas after I sold my hosting company (which was based in San Jose.) I run a business here now with 15 employees and it's significantly cheaper to run it here vs. California. As a side benefit, I can also afford to own a nice house with a yard my daughter and dog can play in in a great area of Austin for about 1/5 of what it would cost in San Jose.

JumpCrisscross 9y ago
> Low ping times to Midwest vs. California Why is reaching the Midwest so important?
- DiabloD3 9y ago
  In particular, the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington MSA and the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land MSA are the 4th and 5th largest in the USA, are the fastest growing in the nation, and combined are about as big as the Los Angeles-Long Beach-Anaheim MSA (which is #2). The Chicago market (which is also very well served by Texas due to an almost direct link to DFW's Infomart, but also has a strong DC market) is the Chicago-Naperville-Elgin MSA, and is #3 on the list, and is slightly larger than Dallas and Houston's MSAs. The three combined are 23.5 million people, and just the 3 biggest metros to note, and about a third of the people covered in the midwest. California's ping and the ping from DCs serving the Northeast (NYC MSA is #1, DC/MD/VA MSA is #6, PA/NJ-outside-of-NYC MSA is #7, Boston-Cambridge MSA is #10) is just too high for a lot of use cases. I dunno about you, but I'm not going to tell about a third of the US population I can't serve them. There is a United States outside of California and NYC. Edit: For completion's sake, #8 is Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach, #9 is Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell (which both of those also are served decently by DFW, but also by DCs in VA) and the 10 largest MSAs together is about 85 million people, or about 26% of the US's population.
- 9y ago