Where will you build a datacenter?
 

If you want to choose a place for datacenter, where are would you choose it, I mean the pahysical locations. What are the factors you would consider. Any suggestions are appreciated.

Firstly is it geologically satable, I wouldn't want my datacenter be destroyed by a volcanoe earthquake, flood or other problem. I would if possible locate it outside a large area of town, but to far from. I would also consider available internet connectivity, AT LEAST two reliable isp's would need to be available.

Next to Peer1, AT&T. :)

Depends on what you intend to use it for....
 

The three largest costs for a data center outside of labor and IT equipment are: Real Estate, Power, and Bandwidth. So find a competitive power company (under $0.04/kwh), locate adjacent to a carrier hotel or major exchange (for cheap tail circuits), find an existing center buy it for $0.50 on the dollar and re-commission it.

If its a fallback or hot site it should be easy to get to by air and car,
should be on different utility grids, should be in different weather patterns, etc.

Avoid natural disasters:
Tornado
Hurricaine
Earthquake
Flooding
Landslides
WildFires
Etc.

Avoid potential manmade disasters such as:
Interstate and Rail Lines (Toxic Spills)

Find the best combination of the above, mitigate risk thru proper design and DO IT......

ATLANTA, GA

I'd love to be part of your team!

Another factor is what is the area like itself, if it is really rough, then your security costs go through the roof.

And potential client wont be too impressed if they have to go through a mini war zone to visit your site.

Great info, Do we have to have special system for fire detection?.

Not only that you should consider other detection too such as Water detection,
Fuel Leak Detection and Dial-out Notification.

Thanks
David.K

I know one place I would like to put a datacenter if I could get the backbones is some places on the french coast, good natural flood protection and the area is quite stable in other ways.

Fire, water, etc detection is a must if you want to get insured

I would have a readily available fire protection on the cost, just pump the sea water into the sprinklers. Also I don't what backbone providers area avail as I said. I suspect france telecom will be relatively good. Also can you reasonably use satelitte for hosting?