While I have written about site selection in past columns, I find it is time to revisit the topic because of the vast changes in criteria. What was happening prior no longer applies.
Site selection criteria used to require around 15 acres (or so) with about 40 MW per site. The new criteria call for 200-plus acres and 150 MW per site. This change is obviously due to the needs of the hyperscale community. Across the entire enterprise, processing is absorbed by colo and web services, with wholesale providers turning to leasing to meet hyperscale demand. In the past, I wrote about the “Industrial Age” of building hyperscale buildings, yet wholesale providers have not adjusted to designing metal buildings or other criteria.