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We operate nearly 900 servers, and I believe the capital of cloud infrastructure is Amsterdam, NL. The concentration of ASNs in Amsterdam is incredible. In cont

We operate nearly 900 servers, and I believe the capital of cloud infrastructure is Amsterdam, NL. The concentration of ASNs in Amsterdam is incredible. In contrast, Ashburn, Dallas, and LA seem to lack ASN diversity, primarily being dominated by singular big tech companies. Cities like Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Frankfurt, Istanbul, and New York, however, have a greater concentration of smaller cloud hosting businesses, offering more diversity.

walrus01 2y ago
Size and scale of an AS doesn't necessarily correlate with running a lot of data centers (as measured in megawatts). For instance cogent, hurricane, arelion and others have numerous worldwide POPs and are generally ranked in a top 15 list of AS by size and scale, but they're not building and running multi megawatt datacenters. Both Amsterdam and Frankfurt have a huge collection of ISPs, hosting companies, telcos and others, as evidenced by the traffic levels of the AMSIX and DE-CIX.
mike_d 2y ago
> In contrast, Ashburn, Dallas, and LA seem to lack ASN diversity, primarily being dominated by singular big tech companies I don't think you understand the scale of the "Ashburn Metro Area." It is upwards of 250 buildings (maybe 50 of which are "big tech companies") compared to the 70 or so in Amsterdam. Are you familiar with what ASNs actually are? That is like saying Delaware is the biggest US state by land mass because every large company is incorporated there.
- diggan 2y ago
  You can both be right, and that's OK :) While you seem mostly concerned with "amount of served/handled data", parent seems to be more concerned with diversity, both are valid ways to judge what makes a "data center capital". I don't think they're saying Amsterdam is the biggest country because of ASN diversity, but if someone says "What is the data center capital of the world?" both ways would be valid ways to understand the answer.
  - lnauta 2y ago
    I just have to point out - looking out an office window to the the data center we use here in Amsterdam - that Amsterdam is a city and not a country. But it was a very funny mistake to me, and I assume the best.
    - diggan 2y ago
      Next thing you know, I'll be calling Netherlands a continent and Holland a country :) Thanks for correcting the brain-fart (or future aspiration?)
  - gunian 2y ago
    This is 2025 diversity is thoughtcrime lol

walrus01 2y ago

Size and scale of an AS doesn't necessarily correlate with running a lot of data centers (as measured in megawatts). For instance cogent, hurricane, arelion and others have numerous worldwide POPs and are generally ranked in a top 15 list of AS by size and scale, but they're not building and running multi megawatt datacenters. Both Amsterdam and Frankfurt have a huge collection of ISPs, hosting companies, telcos and others, as evidenced by the traffic levels of the AMSIX and DE-CIX.

mike_d 2y ago

> In contrast, Ashburn, Dallas, and LA seem to lack ASN diversity, primarily being dominated by singular big tech companies I don't think you understand the scale of the "Ashburn Metro Area." It is upwards of 250 buildings (maybe 50 of which are "big tech companies") compared to the 70 or so in Amsterdam. Are you familiar with what ASNs actually are? That is like saying Delaware is the biggest US state by land mass because every large company is incorporated there.

diggan 2y ago
You can both be right, and that's OK :) While you seem mostly concerned with "amount of served/handled data", parent seems to be more concerned with diversity, both are valid ways to judge what makes a "data center capital". I don't think they're saying Amsterdam is the biggest country because of ASN diversity, but if someone says "What is the data center capital of the world?" both ways would be valid ways to understand the answer.
- lnauta 2y ago
  I just have to point out - looking out an office window to the the data center we use here in Amsterdam - that Amsterdam is a city and not a country. But it was a very funny mistake to me, and I assume the best.
  - diggan 2y ago
    Next thing you know, I'll be calling Netherlands a continent and Holland a country :) Thanks for correcting the brain-fart (or future aspiration?)
- gunian 2y ago
  This is 2025 diversity is thoughtcrime lol