I would like to start my own company by starting a small data center. Not something for thousands of servers but something for a couple hundred. I would like to have about 1000-2000+ shared accounts and 100+ dedicated servers and space for some co location. I would like to know how much you think this will cost me. I would also need to know how big of a place will I need I’m thinking of getting it built but if its too big I can go and buy a place or maybe lease it. How many servers will I need do you think. I really am serious about this so please don’t come up and post a message saying I think its a bad idea I think you should co-locate because I really want this so please don’t put me down the way you put down all the other people that have asked this or other similar question. So if you can’t help go find another post. Sorry to sound so mean is that I have read all the other post about this and it turns into a joke and people start to take the idea out of peoples mind. newho... I want something small you know with enough security ect. so I don’t know if I should call it a data center maybe call it a place for my servers I don’t know… at least I’m not going to put them in my basement.;)
What about connection do you think it will be better to have a t3 to start off or multiple t1 what do you think. You know to start then I can upgrade unless any of you know of a place where I can get a higher line for the price of a t1 or t3. I have been looking at excite@work but they charge more then anyone else so please help me out I really would like your help.

A short(er ok, not so short) laundry list...

rackmount ups(for each rack)
generators w/fuel for half day or better
air conditioners (multiple on seperate circuits)

multiple t1/t3/ds3 connections to seperate providers
Router's plural
Firewall devices plural

System Administrators (plural preferred)
Technical Support plural (no exceptions)

lawyer
insurance

edit: (knew i'd forget some good stuff)

I've been seeing some ads for www.Cogent.com it looks like an amazing deal, but I haven't read up on the specs.

Also going to need at least one of the major carriers: Level 3, Genuity, UUNet, ATT (?)

Unless you don't expect to be able to get hardware when you need it, I wouldn't go buying up a whole load of servers(sounds kinda dumb). Buy what you need to set up your site, some backups, and a few to have live standby for clients coming on. But don't worry about this now, we're talking 6 to 18 months before your datacenter is ready.

Dat/tape backup devices
Lots of backup media
Fire supression system
Flame resistant office hardware

a safe

oh, and about $2 million dollars ought to get you started. (or email Carlos3D and see what their new center cost)

do you think it will be that much. its not gonna be a full data center.

I think at least 2m.

I'd say MINIMUM $1 Million.

Although I have not looked into this closely, I believe these prices are too high.

Yes, if you're going to build a Verio size / quality data centre, then yes, a couple of million might be expected, but for a small, decent centre, then you should be able to build one for under $1 million quite easily.

Regards
Matt

ok... maybe that was a bit much, depending on how big you plan to have this, but...

I wanted to make sure I fully scared off anyone thinking they would be able to do this just in their spare time, with a few grand.

It is a full time job, that's for sure. Expenses depend on the part of the world you're in.

With a good financing plan and a solid reserve, you might not need *that* much money upfront.

Why not start in an old warehouse and buld modulary. Like one room at the time? With a good planning, you could end up with a *very* good infrastructure and cover your costs as you go. You might have no profit for a couple of years but once you finish with the building, the profits will start to show.

You can't start with a few grand, that's for sure, but not millions either...

Since I'm not form US, I don't know if there is such a need for another NOC right now :rolleyes: . But I'm sure we could use a good NOC with decent data transfer prices in Europe... Anyone for a partnership ;) ?

Ales

(edited to correct spelling :rolleyes: )

Tell us you're startup and monthly budget.

well im trying to setup a startup budget and my monthly budget right now is 10,000:(

Ok then.. The location will be the hard part to find. But for inet connection check out www.ispworld.com they have prices for backbones. You'll want to check out Cogent Communications and E.Spire. E.Spire offers cheap fractional T3s that allow you to grow from 2mbps to 45mbps. And Cogent offers 100mbps ethernet for $3,000 a month. ( Remember you will definately need atleast 1 more provider for reliability.. ) For a Juniper M5 I've heard it's around $20,000. Havent heard any Cisco prices. You could lease you're servers from www.esol.com way to get high powered servers cheap monthly cost. Great if you want to rent dedicated servers. Then you will need a nice generator, Generator is more important than UPS in my opinion but you'll also probably want a UPS. And then if the building doesnt have what it need you'll need air conditioners. Big ones. www.asante.com sells good switches. 10/100 and Gigabit ones. Check out they're Itracore 9000. Need anything more? Just ask? lol

Hope this helps.
-Tetraboy

Hmmm, well my thought is that you should find the nearest datacenter and start to colocate there with your own servers and start a dedicated and virtual hosting service. If all goes well, then buy yourself a nice NOC.
But if you insist. I know that the guys at hosting4less.com buildt their own NOC while they were quite small (I assume), and they had great service. Maybe you could pay them some bucks for some consultation and important advice.

probadly 1 million or more. It all depends on what kind of servers you want. If you want to stop reselling from soneone else why don't you just lease a dedicated server?

I was thinking the same thing and did some research into building a NOC. Heres what I got:

Office Space: $2,000/month + $1,000 start up
4 Support People (to provide 24/7 support): $40,000-$70,000 year per person
1 Sales Guy: $30,000 + commission/year
1 Fractional t3 from Qwest: $9,000/month
1 T-1 from Verio: $1100/month
1 T-1 from Level 3: $1000/month
1 Small Generator: $20,000
10 Racks (u42): $4,000 ($400 each)
10 Servers to start off with: $2,000 each
Cisco Routers: $4,000 to $10,000
BGP4 Routing: $2,000 to $10,000
Cat 5 Wire: $350 - $1,000
UPS Systems (30 to start): $200/each
Electricity Bill: depends on electric company
New Power Grid for Office: $3,000
Switches + Plates: $600 - $6,000
Computers for Support Techs (2): $2,000
Phone Charges: depends on phone company ($30/month for me)
Long Distance Phone Charges: depends ($200/mont for me)
Toll Free Charges: depends ($400/month for me)

These are just a few things,

Total Start Up Costs: around $130,000
Monthly Fees: around $33,000

As you can see, it really could be done for well under a million dollars. The only thing is, you would also have to include security measures, and many other things like website design, system administration, hardware shipping costs, hardware costs, set up times, set up costs, your time.

I mean the list goes on and on, and I would suggest that you really make sure that it is something you dont go in alone with. The company could operate with about 5 employees. Considering that 4 support people would rotate 7 days a week. One thing I suggest is having extra people, like college students or even interns working on weekends. This way, you could pay them like $40/hour to be at the data center in case any calls.

Also, something most people dont realize is that you have to have a special electric pattern put into place, since each machine consumes around 250 watts. That is why I added electric setup costs. What I was thinking is that you would purchase the center and set up all 10 racks in a row. Then, you could put a table near the front of your office (keep in mind it would be a really small office) and you could set up 2 computers on that table to be used for your Support Guys and Sales Guy.

For a small center, this would be ideal!

If you have any questions, feel free to post, email, or pm me!

Jim

Well it sounds like a lot but i think i can do it for less. right now i have held the idea for 2 months or so. as soon as i have the time for it i will email you for more help. Thanks