Data Center Boom May Continue in 2011

Announcements over the past couple of weeks suggest the data center expansion trend of 2010 will be back for another run next year.

UnitedLayer, a colocation and managed hosting provider based in San Francisco, this week unveiled plans to expand its footprint and service offerings in 2011. The company earlier this month announced the appointment of a new chief executive officer, Abhijit Phanse. That move followed the UnitedLayer’s acquisition by Accelon Capital, a private equity firm. Phanse is managing partner at Accelon Capital, which focuses on small to mid-sized growth companies in the $5 million to $50 million revenue range.

In a statement, Phanse said UnitedLayer will pursue cloud virtualization and graphics processing unit (GPU) high-performance computing platforms. The company’s 2011 plans also call for expanded facilities and geographic reach. The company currently operates data centers in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Service providers in other regions also expect to go forward with data center build outs next year. In Dallas, Colo4 plans a power and space expansion for early 2011. The project, which the company announced this week, will add about 10,000 square feet of raised floor and four megawatts of power, according to Colo4.

And Green House Data last week unveiled plans to open its second data center next year.  Green House Data bills its existing data center, located in Cheyenne, WY, as the Rocky Mountain region’s first completely green data center. The company has retained Wired Real Estate Group to conduct a search for a new data center, which will focus on cloud hosting and colocation services. The search will target Dallas, San Jose, Ohio, Virginia, and Illinois among other markets, Green House Data said.

Data center expansion was a prominent trend in 2010. While growth-minded firms cited increasing demand for data center space, there’s always the potential to overbuild.

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