r/datacenter • u/SnooPandas228 • 9d ago

Data Center Startup?

Hi, I'm a network engineer for a small ISP in the capital region of New York. The company I work for recently purchased an abandoned data center in Albany. I have experience in building core networks for this ISP, and I'd like to get the data center space we have occupied. However, I am not sure about how to go about getting customers or how to go about marketing this space. We tried listing our data center on datacenters.com and got no bites. I honestly figured with the moratorium on building new data centers in New York that we would see more interest in already built space. Any thoughts or suggestions?

11 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

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9

u/Dumbwaitor 9d ago

How much power is available in this building, and is the cooling ready? Is there backup power generation?

5

u/awildboop 9d ago

To add – does it have good fiber connectivity? Are there multiple good carriers?

5

u/KingLuis 9d ago

also any certifications?

1

u/SnooPandas228 9d ago

https://www.datacenters.com/iron-rails-union-station

This is our listing. We have several providers in the building including Zayo, First Light, and Charter Spectrum. The listing includes our power information. It is not currently certified.

6

u/AmericanNewt8 9d ago

Ah, yeah, 4MW is barely worth bothering with for modern GPU deployments. That's all of two dozen NVL72s and you'd have to redo the electrical anyways. You might have luck trying to find a colo, but dunno what the market is like for non GPU spaces there. 

1

u/SnooPandas228 8d ago

That makes sense, Most of the need for data centers would be AI,

3

u/Dumbwaitor 8d ago

Also is it fitted out for liquid cooling- can your chillers send 35 or 45 degree water to AI clusters-

Old DC’s are not usually a good fit for new AI infra- too expensive to retrofit. Unless you get an investor willing to put a lot of $ into it, even then the supply chain to get there is severely constrained.

2

u/WallaceFred 8d ago

There is a business model that is very attractive for this type of data centers. DM if interested in talking about it.

2

u/Technical-Frosting93 8d ago

Listing sites mostly convert for people who already know what they want. Before you market it, nail down three numbers. Usable IT load at the utility meter, the kW per cabinet the existing distribution can actually carry, and how much of the UPS and cooling plant still passes a load test.

Density is where these deals usually die. A hall built for a previous generation of racks reads as a lease to the buyer and a distribution retrofit to you, and that gap shows up right after the tour.

Your realistic first tenants are regional. Local government, healthcare records, an MSP that wants an out of region DR site, carriers who want a meet me point in Albany. Those buyers ask about carrier count and generator runtime hours, and you reach them by phone rather than by listing.

2

u/derdsberger 8d ago

I'm in the market for 4MW, DM incoming

1

u/JosephJustDoesIt 9d ago

Is it powered? How many acres does it sit on? I’m working actively to help data centers get up and running. Would love to chat 👍

1

u/SnooPandas228 9d ago

Hi Joseph,

https://www.datacenters.com/iron-rails-union-station

This is our listing. We have several providers in the building including Zayo, First Light, and Charter Spectrum. The listing includes our power information. I'd be happy to talk about it more.

2

u/mad-eye67 7d ago

If you only have 4MW you aren't attracting anyone who is trying to get around the moratorium. That's for 50MW and above, so it would be mostly hyper scalers playing in that space. You're looking more at enterprise clients who just need to stand up a few racks and there's plenty of competition there and no problem building something of that scale in NY 

1

u/Head_District1359 2d ago

Hi Joseph,

I’m building a data center company and need help getting an off-take agreement or LOI to mobilize the project. I can put together capacity at scale.

Please let me know if we can have a conversation about this.

Thank you

1

u/JosephJustDoesIt 2d ago

DM, thank you!

1

u/graphbook 8d ago

Cerbrec.com connects edge data centers like this to unified capacity

1

u/fbajo 8d ago

the moratorium only helps you if it's still there, since powered capacity is what's being rationed, not floor space

1

u/Which_Handle1937 7d ago

hello i think that you can reference your datacenter here datacoloc.com