Help a member with data center cost info

by George Daffin | Aug 02, 2001 7:00:00 AM

Takeaway: If you've ever faced a difficult problem in estimating costs, you can understand why one TechRepublic member is asking for help. The problem: calculating costs for building a new data center. What's your best idea?

TechRepublic member Scott Smith is looking for cost information related to building a new production data center.

How would you proceed if you were charged with creating a cost estimate for a data center? Would you look for comparable facilities and try to get information about their construction costs? Would you seek information that would allow you to benchmark the cost of hitting key performance specifications?

The question
Here is the question, as posed by Scott: “Does anyone have any studies that outline a per-square-foot cost to build a new production data center? I am looking for a study that might include the configuration that drove the price, such as air, power, and cabling options.”

Here’s how you can help
Give us your answers, suggestions, or even follow-up questions, and let’s get a discussion going that will help Scott find a solution and also, perhaps, add to the general knowledge about data centers, cost estimating, or both. Post your comment to the discussion below. The member with the best piece of advice wins a TechRepublic coffee mug.

More on data centers
Andy Weeks considers what the term “data center” means in today’s IT environment in "What, exactly, is a data center?," published here last October. He considers how the function of the data center has changed as hardware has evolved, and he offers a broad definition of “data center” based on five key elements.

In his commentary, "Data centers decline, prices fall," Gartner Analyst Ted Chamberlain explains why the building spree of data centers would have come to an end—even without the current economic slowdown. He blames a saturated market and insufficient attention to quality, among other factors.

Oops…well, the numbers are in, and…
What’s the worst cost estimate you’ve ever made? What went wrong? Did it impact your career? Now that you can look back on it and laugh (we hope), send us an e-mail that tells the whole story.

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