Frontier Spotlight: The Top Data Center Stories for October 2018

Nov. 2, 2018
Our top data center news for October 2018 includes updates from the Northern Virginia and Houston markets, and updates on the growing demand for hyperscale leasing. Additional top news included an update on the impending InfoMart rebrand, RagingWire’s hyperscale progress, and more. 

October brought with it cooler temperatures across the country, as well as some big moves and news stemming from the data center industry in some of the country’s biggest colocation markets.

Hyperscale leasing is on the rise in Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia, as reports show developers in the area leased more mission-critical space in the first six months of 2018 than has been sold in any single year, in any market. Also coming out of the Northern Virginia data center market this past month was news from QTS, who has opened its first company-built facility in Ashburn, and plans for future growth, as well.

In Texas, DownUnder Geo Solutions launched a new HPC system at SkyBox Datacenters in Houston. Additional top news stemming from the colocation business in October included an update on the impending Infomart rebrand, RagingWires hyperscale deals, and more.

See below for the most-read stories on Data Center Frontier this past month:

HPC Gets Bigger in Texas: 40,000 Servers Immersed in Coolant: A new HPC system from DownUnder GeoSolutions will immerse 40,000 servers in liquid coolant at Skybox Datacenters in Houston. The massive system is expected to deliver 250 petaflops of computing power.

A look inside a DUG immersion-cooled data hall, showing the cooling enclosures filled with dieletric fluid and the piping where the cooling loop enters the enclosure. The Skybox deployment will use more than 700 of these tanks. (Photo: DownUnder GeoSolutions)

From Dirt to Cloud: How A Data Center is Created: Building the Internet of bits and bytes requires concrete and steel. Here’s a detailed look at the process of creating a data center, from dirt to cloud.

Life After Infomart: A New Player Joins the Data Center Boom: New CEO Brian Cox will lead a relaunch and rebranding of the wholesale data center business of Infomart Data Centers, which was acquired by IPI Data Center Investors.

RagingWire Makes the Leap to Hyperscale: RagingWire Data Centers’ decision to compete for large hyperscale deals is paying dividends in Northern Virginia, where the company is adding capacity to support recent customer wins.

QTS Comes Online in Ashburn, With a Big Building and Bigger Ambitions: QTS Data Centers has opened its first company-built facility in Ashburn, Virginia. But it’s already laying the groundwork for up to 215 megawatts of future capacity.

New Ways to Deploy Edge Capacity for Data Center Leaders: Data center leaders are looking for new ways to deploy edge capacity for their facilities. Here’s what you need to know. First in a series on edge computing for executives.

Why Data Centers Are Important for the Retail Industry: Data centers are vital components of retail operations in the modern world, delivering enhanced customer experiences, both online and off.

Hyperscale Leasing Through the Roof in Northern Virginia: In the first six months of 2018, developers in Data Center Alley in Northern Virginia leased more mission-critical space than has been sold in any single year, in any market, anywhere on earth.

Dallas Data Center Market One of the Largest, Most Active in the U.S.: The Dallas data center market is the third largest in the country. Data Center Frontier looks at data center supply and demand, and the factors that are driving a building boom in Dallas / Fort Worth.

Dallas is notable for the diversity of its data center ecosystem, with strong demand for retail colocation, wholesale data center space, powered shell and build-to-suit projects. (image: RagingWire Data Centers)

Sale-Leaseback Emerges as a Portfolio Strategy: A growing number of providers are using sale-leaseback deals to build national data center portfolios, acquiring underutilized enterprise facilities and converting them to multi-tenant operations.

Voices of the Industry

Every month, Data Center Frontier readers are privy to columns from some of the industry’s top experts. This month’s topics included an update on the European data center market, new designs for hyperscale cloud, and a look at de-commoditizing data center solutions. These columns were provided by leaders from Iron Mountain, RagingWire, and Element Critical:

The State of the European Data Center Market: Eric Boonstra, VP & GM of Iron Mountain Data Centers Western Europe explores how the European data center market is evolving and poised for future growth.

New Data Center Designs for the Hyperscale Cloud and the Enterprise: Bob Woolley, Vice President of Critical Facilities Engineering and Design at RagingWire Data Centers, covers how the data center industry should respond to new design requirements for hyperscale cloud, the enterprise and more.

De-Commoditizing Data Center Solutions and Services: Jason Green, Chief Technical Officer at Element Critical, explores the concept of de-commmoditizing data center solutions and services, and the need for structure and infrastructure that’s specifically designed for individual colocation customers.

Keep pace with the fact-moving world of data centers and cloud computing by following us on Twitter and Facebook, connecting with Data Center Frontier editor Rich Miller on LinkedIn, and signing up for our weekly newspaper using the form below. 

Explore the evolving world of edge computing further through Data Center Frontier’s special report series and ongoing coverage.

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