The World’s Most Unexpected Data Center Locations

Data center experts will agree that physical security is the decisive factor when selecting a data center location. Data centers host sensitive data and security is the most important element that plays a role in its successful operations. That’s why some data centers have been placed in some weird locations.

Let’s take a look at some of the strangest and unexpected data center locations.

The most unexpected location for a data center that has made news in 2013 has been at sea, courtesy of Google’s creativity. Google has container-based data centers in the San Francisco Bay and also in Portland Harbor in Maine. The advantages are that these data centers use tidal and wave energy for power generation and innovative cooling using sea water. However, a potential problem is having to deal with latency issues due to satellite connectivity and also the impact of salt and other chemicals in the air that could terribly harm electronic equipment.

Oil and Natural Gas companies have also started to move towards the idea of having offshore on-sea data centers. As the drilling operations move further out into the sea, some of the older rigs have been converted into communication data centers.

High security data centers are also located underground, in mines, which is another unexpected location for a data center. These facilities have many advantages, most importantly the ability of being discrete and having very few access points. A data bunker that is reinvented out of an underground mine promises extremely high standards of security and also limitless floor space. It needs to be well designed though, so that humidity levels and temperatures are maintained for optimal performance. An underground location is also well protected from earthquakes, tornadoes and harsh over the ground weather conditions.

As you can see, these cool locations may not always work for your business!  As with any other key business decision, you need to take a holistic view on the data center location, and work out the power, cooling and operating costs, and the transport of staff. Once you do that, you can take a realistic vote on whether to move to an underground or out at sea location.

As part of our business operations, we decided to repurpose a space that was somewhat unusual: an old shopping mall, Eastgate, which has been consolidated to several public safety units. The space has been a great business decision and continues to fill up.  Get in touch with us at www.lifelinedatacenters.com today for the best in collocation data centers in the Midwest, or schedule a tour of Lifeline to see how we turned an unconventional space into a great business decision.

Alex Carroll

Managing Member at Lifeline Data Centers

Alex, co-owner, is responsible for all real estate, construction and mission critical facilities: hardened buildings, power systems, cooling systems, fire suppression, and environmentals. Alex also manages relationships with the telecommunications providers and has an extensive background in IT infrastructure support, database administration and software design and development. Alex architected Lifeline’s proprietary GRCA system and is hands-on every day in the data center.