Directory of USA Fiber Network Providers

Power generation and Fiber are top issues is data center site selection. Curious I found this site as a useful Directory of Network Maps based on the providers.  The list is over 30 providers, so there is still manual work to go through all of them, but at least this is a starting point.  Here are the first 11.

Company
Network Map

360Networks
Interactive Map

Abovenet
Network Maps

AT&T
Domestic OC-768, See International Maps

BT Global Services
Network Map

CenturyTel
Network Map

China Telecom
Network Map

Cogent Communications
See International Maps

Covad
Network Map

Cox Business
Interactive Map

Darkstrand
Interactive Map

Global Crossing
See International Maps

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Social Security Administration picks the wrong data center site, mistakes in power costs, telecommunications access, and cost of construction

This would be funny, if it wasn’t a potential $500 million data center built by the US Gov’t by the Social Security Administration. The Office of Inspector General caught the error.

In particular, when developing the mandatory selection criteria, it does not appear that consideration was given to the serious fiscal impact that exclusions would have in the electrical power cost arena over the life cycle of the data center. Finally, in evaluating the telecommunications criteria concepts, SeBS found only limited information.

SeBS, Strategic e-Business Solutions uses system engineering techniques.

Service Offering: Systems Engineering Services
· Provide full range of system engineering support for aerospace and telecommunication systems including manned and unmanned aircraft, satellites, shipboard systems and fixed facility installations.
· Oversea engineering change requests, conduct systems acceptance testing, test and evaluation and system IV&V.
· Develop Performance based specification for obtaining resources to perform customer service support services from the vendor community.
· · Provide full lifecycle support in requirement development and validation. 

From the reading the report, it seems like the SSA site selection team became obsessed with a few criteria that are uptime risks (man-made and natural disasters), and who cares about the power bill or whether there is access to fiber.  And, SSA picked a site that was hard to build a data center.

SeBs evaluation found that in general, the Social Security Administration (SSA) developed a highly sophisticated set of selection criteria with which to evaluate general geographic areas of consideration and prospective individual properties. The Agency’s decision criteria avoided major areas that potentially are hazardous to the operation of a data center (including both natural and man-made risks). In addition, the criteria define major site and data center construction issues that would ultimately have a significant impact on the site
property to be selected. However, questions remain concerning SSA's process employed in narrowing the site properties down to a short list. In addition, the initial mandatory selection criteria applied to the geographic regions under consideration may have excluded too many locales.

SSA accepted 22 of 25 recommendations from SeBs.

I wonder who the original vendor was who consulted the SSA for site selection.

Thanks to the folks at DataCenterDynamics reported on this issue, and I found the SSA OIG document.

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With recent volcanic activity how long will it take before anyone considers Iceland for a data center?

We've all seen the Iceland gov't delegation at various data center conferences, and they have had a web site up to promote their site.

ICELAND: THE COOLEST LOCATION FOR DATA CENTERS

Our competitive operating environment compares favourably with leading countries in the industrial world. Add to this our green renewable energy, low tax structure, high education levels, abundant land and competitive costs for skilled labour, and you will quickly discover that Iceland is a strong candidate as a location for international data centre operations.

Connected to the world

Just when they thought the gov't instability and Fiber connectivity were addressed, their statement on low risk natural disasters is irrelevant.

MSNBC reports on the latest volcanic activity and flooding.

Iceland evacuates hundreds as volcano erupts again

By GUDJON HELGASON, JILL LAWLESS

Associated Press Writers, Associated Press Writers

updated 33 minutes ago

REYKJAVIK, Iceland - A volcano under a glacier in Iceland erupted Wednesday for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, shooting smoke and steam into the air, closing a major road and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters.

Authorities evacuated 800 residents from around the Eyjafjallajokull glacier as rivers rose by up to 10 feet (3 meters).

Emergency officials and scientists said the eruption under the ice cap was 10 to 20 times more powerful than one last month, and carried a much greater risk of widespread flooding.

Can anyone be taken seriously now if they listed Iceland as a site for a data center?

The risk may have been no higher for Iceland than other countries, but perception of risks given recent volcanic activity have changed.  The general public would say the risk of Volcanic activity is 100%. :-)

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Can Data Centers benefit from Supply Chain Management concepts?

Currently, I am studying data center site selection, and have been asking the question what is wrong with data centers having 1% of the cost being in the land when other commercial real estate will typically have land 20-25% of the cost.  One big thing most miss is land is not a cost, it is a non-depreciable asset. 

Capital assets that are inexhaustible or where the useful life does not diminish or expire over time, such as land and land improvements. Infrastructure assets reported using the modified approach to depreciation are also not depreciated.

Land is not an expense, it is an investment.  So, land should be looked evaluated on its ROI, not it's overall cost, including land improvements. 

Which then led me to think why is it data centers don't use more supply chain management concepts which would address issues like land cost in the overall solution and most likely save you much more than the cost of the land?

Supply Chain Management is defined as.

Supply chain management (SCM) is the management of a network of interconnected businesses involved in the ultimate provision of product and service packages required by end customers (Harland, 1996).[1] Supply Chain Management spans all movement and storage of raw materials, work-in-process inventory, and finished goods from point of origin to point of consumption (supply chain).

Another definition is provided by the APICS Dictionary when it defines SCM as the "design, planning, execution, control, and monitoring of supply chain activities with the objective of creating net value, building a competitive infrastructure, leveraging worldwide logistics, synchronizing supply with demand, and measuring performance globally."

Can't you think of all the different groups and vendors involved in providing data center and IT services as a supply chain management problem?  Is the CIO in charge of the supply chain? Maybe.

Here is a piece of irony from a CIO.com article on supply chain management.  Supply chain management SW is a mess.

Supply chain management software is possibly the most fractured group of software applications on the planet. Each of the five major supply chain steps previously outlined is comprised of dozens of specific tasks, many of which have their own specific software. Some vendors have assembled many of these different chunks of software together under a single roof, but no one has a complete package that is right for every company. For example, most companies need to track demand, supply, manufacturing status, logistics (i.e. where things are in the supply chain), and distribution. They also need to share data with supply chain partners at an ever increasing rate. While products from large ERP vendors like SAP's Advanced Planner and Optimizer (APO) can perform many or all of these tasks, because each industry's supply chain has a unique set of challenges, many companies decide to go with targeted best of breed products instead, even if some integration is an inevitable consequence.

So, if a bunch of people who focus only on supply chain management can't get the software right, how can the data center industry get the right software to run data centers like a supply chain?

I think I have an answer on how to approach supply chain management for data centers.  The first step is to identify the problem, then test what approaches solve the problem best. The fragmentation and silos is the opportunity to address.  How do you pull all the pieces together?  My ideas are based on using social networking and memetics.

More to come.

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Missouri business leaders support development of data center tax incentives in the state

DataCenterKnowledge wrote on the Politics in data centers in NY, TX, and MO.

The Politics of Data Centers: NY, Texas, Missouri

January 6th, 2010 : Rich Miller

In recent years we’ve seen data centers become embroiled in state politics on topics such as whether to build new state data centers to manage citizens’ tax and benefit issues, where to put those data centers, who to hire to operate them, and whether to offer tax incentives to establish a state as a destination for development. This week we’ve data center make headlines in several states.

Missouri caught my attention as I have been there a few times meeting with business leaders.  Rich Miller goes on regarding Missouri.

Missouri: The state General Assembly in Missouri hopes to consider targeted tax incentives that will help the state attract more data center projects. Business groups, including the Missouri Coalition for Data Centers, hope to build upon a cluster of enterprise disaster recovery data centers in the Kansas City, and boost interest in the development of the state’s abundant supply of limestone caves as data center facilities. Missouri is home to several existing underground data bunkers, including The Mountain Complex near Branson and the Springnet Underground in Springfield.

The Missourinet article referenced by Rich has good points.

Business leaders put data center incentives on legislative wish list

by STEVE WALSH on JANUARY 3, 2010

in BUSINESS, TAXES

Among the many issues to be entertained during the 2010 session of the General Assembly, which begins on Wednesday at the State Capitol in Jefferson City, is one that would offer incentives in a bid to lure data centers to Missouri. The push for the legislation comes from what is known as the Missouri Coalition for Data Centers, which is made up of businesses and local economic development agencies.

The argument is to classify data centers as information factories.

“A data center, basically, is a warehouse for information storage,” said Tracy King, Director of Taxation and Fiscal Affairs with the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a member of the Coalition. “You can kind of look at a data center as a manufacturer. Instead of manufacturing widgets data centers manufacture bits.”

Why is designation as a manufacturer important? The manufacturing industry can already take advantage of state-sponsored incentives.

“We’re offering those same exact incentives to the manufacturing industry right now,” said Ora Reynolds, President of Hunt Midwest Enterprises in Kansas City. “So, if you’re manufacturing widgets you get these incentives. If you’re manufacturing data you don’t. So, this is basically the same incentives that are already out there for an industry that’s been in the state for years and years and now we’re trying to bring a new industry in with similar incentives.”

Why do this, because the rest of the surrounding states do which is why they have attracted the big data center companies.

“Tax incentives at every one of our surrounding states are already in place,” said King. “For, let’s say a 100,000 square foot data center, they’re handicapped by about $15-million to do business in Missouri. So they’re not doing business in Missouri – they’re doing business in Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Oklahoma – who already have both tax exemptions in place and also some personal property tax exemptions or abatements.”

Besides the Tax Director and business leaders, there is support in the House and Senate.

Sponsors of data center incentives legislation have been found in both the House and Senate. Supporters acknowledge the proposal might face challenges during these tough budget times, but they insist that at the end of the day the state would benefit from such legislation.

You can bet soon after Missouri extends manufacturing status to data centers, there will be an increase in data center activity in Missouri.

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