Site Selection - What Not To Do

A while back the Black Swan Real Estate Zine had a post I enjoyed. Typically you will see data center site selection articles about where TO build a facility, but Black Swan approached it from the other point of view -- 10 Places You Don't Want to Build.

My two favorite on their list are #5 - In a building that used to be something else and #6 - in a large metropolitan area. I see a number of stories about converted malls or warehouses that are now data centers, and while I'm sure in 'some' cases the retrofit study / cost analysis made sense, I view data centers as a very purpose-built facility that should not, if at all possible be "fit" into a building that was built for something else. Not building in a large metropolitan area is another one I believe in -- and not just for the reasons mentioned in the article or stories I've personally heard. If anyone is reading this from Dallas -- are your lights dimming? :)

A few days after that blog post I read another excellent point brought up by Dave Ohara on the Green (low carbon) Data Center blog. Dave brings up the error of a single number view vs. the range of performance. With a number of criteria to pour over when selecting a site, Dave points out that most criteria have relationships to other things and that a holistic approach is rarely executed, marrying site, building, IT hardware and software.

The Heartland Green Up Conference

Just a few weeks left until The Heartland GreenUp! If you haven't heard about this event -- please check it out. It is shaping up to be an outstanding symposium and expo. The goal of the conference is to "promote awareness of and best practices in reducing overall energy consumption and carbon footprints in information technology. This premiere event provides a forum to discover and share new, innovative green products and services".






I am personally looking forward to a few of the keynote speakers - including Randy Mott from HP. Randy is executive vice president and chief information officer at HP. Also delivering keynotes are Andrew Fanara works from ENERGY STAR and Bill Weihl, Green Energy Czar at Google.

Please don't think of this as some little, local event -- this is global conference for all those interested in learning about GreenIT and networking with others in the industry. In ONE event, it will bring together:

"a group of global enterprise and government thought-leaders for one, intense day of networking: to share latest research, brass-tacks case studies and fast-paced total-immersion backgrounders on enterprise-wide sustainable IT best-practice; next-gen datacenter architectures, power management strategies and facilities engineering; cloud computing and virtualization; and on the nuts and bolts (and business case) for plugging into wind and solar, biomass and other emerging energy technologies"

If not able to attend in person, the Technology Association of Iowa will host a Virtual GreenUp to let you attend keynotes, track sessions and network with speakers, sponsors and peers.

I am going! Will you?

Register Now!