While they started out like lab spaces in the ’70s, data centers evolved. By the ’90s, most had transformed into enterprise-owned, purpose-built, “island fortresses” with all data held inside.
Within a short time frame, hyperscale data centers have gone from being designed with a typical wholesale data center layout to industrial-level design.
Across a wide range of industries and applications, the world’s data needs continue to expand at an unprecedented rate. From finance to oil and gas to health care to agriculture, data has become a vital component of day-to-day operations across all industries; as data needs increase, so too does the pressure on mission critical systems to support data storage and processing.
Chris Crosby’s audacious plan to extend data center services to underserved markets was the first of several conversations that got me to wondering how markets become underserved in the first place.
Though data center operators talk in terms of reliability, Tier levels, energy efficiency, and cost, most often these conversations take a back seat to site selection.