Profitable?

[green]

I think the amount you can make is variable.

It really comes down to where you are located and how good you can market it.

In my opinion I think it does that a little while before you begin making big bucks.

[dbarker]

These are all really how long is a piece of string questions... Rather than asking how much can I make and how much do I need you need to take a step back and look at "What type of data centre do I need", "What clients do I want" and "What services am I offering".

These will all affect how much money you need to invest and your potential returns. For example if you're going for replacing the in-house data centre that a bank or financial company runs then you're going to need a tier-4 facility with high density space; this will be extremely expensive on the CapEx, will have longer sales cycles but will have higher recurring revenues than a lower density/tier facility.

In terms of what you can make again depends on the type of facility you're running for how much you can charge, location of the facility, additional services (managed) you're offering even down to how often you do maintenance/staffing levels/etc.

Data centre's in general require deep pockets for the first 12 - 18 months since the overall monthly running cost (excluding power) is the same for a data centre with 1 rack as it is for a data centre with 300 racks. As said further up we've seen that around 20 - 30% occupancy means you're covering these costs but it could take 12 months of very expensive OpEx before you get the to the operational breakeven point.

[LaptopFreak]

A decent sized datacenter can bring in millions a month. However, I have no experience in building it, but my maths tells me it takes about a year.

[PhotonVPS-Jim]

In the long run, datacenters can be extremely profitable, however the initial costs are fairly high.

[romario]

I believe it all depends on your clients and future clients. If you have good vision, then you can build a datacenter.

[jamesb]

A friend of mine started one in Singapore several years ago and he has had a record year last year. Business is still on the up and now he just purchased two new homes, various cars so I guess it can be very profitable.

[uday1583]

That was a very nice information about Data Center business. I'd been thinking to start a small scale. Atleast reading this post gives me idea what it takes to setup a data center.

[smilers]

It depends on feasibility of project, business, type of customer so on and so forth.

Breaking even with initial investment....well, that heavily depends on the above.

[PYDOT]

Originally Posted by Zordani

I bet that you can make loads and loads of money even with a small data center. I'd love to really have a data center of my own sometimes, when I grow up, that should be a good business.

And you can also lose tons of money...



Datacenters are just like any other regular business.

[Viki]

Originally Posted by PYDOT

And you can also lose tons of money...



Datacenters are just like any other regular business.

Exactly! If you don't have a good business plan for starting the daacenter, its one of the best methods to lose money LOL

Also, you should have enough budget to keep the quality staffing, network etc. so its not an easy task.