Why Big Data Companies Are Building Server Farms in Middle America
November 7, 2017
When Apple Inc. picked a Des Moines, Iowa, suburb for its next high-end data center over the summer, only its sixth in the U.S., it wasn’t playing its typical tech-industry-pioneer role. It was following Google, Microsoft and Facebook, all of which have already planted data-center flags in the Hawkeye state.
It’s somewhat surprising, but rapidly getting less so, to see technology giants of Silicon Valley or Seattle turning from industry power hubs on the coasts to second-tier markets to establish new data centers. States like Iowa, Ohio, Nevada and North Carolina have steadily built their infrastructure and business cases, and industry watchers say they have gained momentum amid surging demand for digital storage space and shifting corporate data management trends that might just blow the barn doors off.
Many factors contribute to the wider geographic play, but big data center operators such as Amazon, IBM, Google and SalesForce are hungry for core ingredients of land, power and water, which can be plentiful and cheaper off the coasts, according to Sean Brady, a managing director and co-founder of the global data center advisory group at Cushman & Wakefield.