Technology Futures

I had a conversation earlier this week with a well-connected business person who is in the business of building data centers. The two top criteria his firm uses to identify communities in which to locate data centers is power and fiber. What he told me is that for the size of data center he typically builds (50,000 to 100,000 square feet) they are looking for power from two separate sub-stations, and that power from two separate grids is even better. Few communities get fed from two grids, but it is more likely to be able to get power to some industrial/commercial sites from two different sub-stations. Even though these data centers have backup generators on-site, the 15 to 30 megawatts these facility use make dual feeds desirable.

Power is something all communities have, and if extra capacity is needed, it can usually be added easily if the funds are available to support new transmission lines and/or new transformers. Note that the lead time on large power transformers is one year or more, so a strategy of "If someone wants extra power, we'll just build it," may not be leading with your best foot forward, as they may move your community off the short list in favor of communities that have already addressed power.

So that leaves fiber as a key discriminator in relocation decisions. Planning and building local fiber infrastructure can take six to 12 months at a minimum, so if you want to attract data centers, you want open access fiber assets already in place and ready to use.

Some data points: the massive Google data center in rural Washington state was placed there because fiber assets were already in place. The fact that cheap power was available was a secondary consideration. Danville, Virginia won a new, large data center recently because they had both fiber in place and reliable power. Fiber gives communities a competitive edge for business attraction.

Via Jon Hunt's excellent Broadband Policy Watch Web site, Google has rolled out a Google Fiber for Communities Web site. There is not much new information; Google is still promising that they will select a community before the end of the year. Of interest is the focus on microtrenching. This is a technology that Design Nine has been using for several years. We particularly like the Teraspan products. We have used that very successfully in The Wired Road. The picture shows the slot you cut in the street, and then you drop the Teraspan duct which already has the fiber cable enclosed.

Save NC Broadband reports that the attempt to halt community-owned and municipal broadband in North Carolina met its final defeat this year. The effort to get a bill passed that would essentially prohibit municipalities from taking control of their own economic future dragged on through the entire NC legislative session, and someone could probably write a pretty good horror movie script from the saga. Opponents to the measure thought they had put a wooden stake through the heart of the bill several times, only to see it re-emerge. It's a good object lesson for communities: never give up, and always remember: incumbent providers don't vote, citizens vote.

Microsoft has killed the Kin. Don't know what the "Kin" is? Neither does anyone else. It is (was) a "social media-centered phone for teenagers." But among other problems, the monthly contract for a Kin phone cost as much as the most expensive smartphone (e.g. Blackberries, iPhones, Droid phones). And darned few parents are going to spring for a pricy phone, and a pricey voice plan, and a pricey data plan just so their kid can call for a ride after soccer practice.

What is even more perplexing than the wrongheaded pricing is how Microsoft thought a phone that is "social media-centered" would be interesting. Apparently that ban on Microsoft employees having iPhones is working, or someone with Microsoft would have noticed that all the smartphones are already "social media-centered," with free apps for all the popular social media platforms. Who would pay extra for a one trick phone that only thirteen year olds would think is interesting? So Microsoft has apparently burned through a billion dollars or so and has nothing to show for it.