Over the next year, within each issue, I will be addressing the six steps required to getting to a total cost of ownership (TCO) when building or selecting a new data center. In most cases, a company will need to review the overall cost of building their new data center, then compare it to renting a wholesale or colocation data center. When comparing the build cost vs. wholesale cost, there are six major steps involved: developing the program, site surveys, planning, site selection, cost comparisons, and business justification documentation to be created for the board of directors or capital investors.
In 2011, Digital Realty Trust retained Campos Research to conduct a survey within the data center industry. One of the questions within the survey asked, “What are your reasons for data center expansion?” Over 76% of the responses focused on four primary reasons for data center expansion: