Data centers need massive quantities of electricity not only to run servers, but plus to cool them — and as electricity costs increase, companies are seeking efficiencies in every conceivable area.

Manufacturers such as Dell and Hewlett Packard are marketing servers that, they claim, require less cooling and use less capability. Existing info centers are employing strategies such as using off-peak potential to freeze water, and soon after blowing air by the ice during the day to cool servers.

Local climate plus is a consideration, with previously far-fetched schemes to reduce cooling costs by building notes centers in Iceland or aboard ships now receiving serious consideration.

However, local electricity costs remain the singled-out most critical component of overall energy costs — and that’s one reason why Colorado Springs is a preferred location.

Last month, the Boyd Group ranked Colorado Springs as the 11th most appealing place in the United States to locate a notes center, down slightly from the city’s

seventh-place ranking during 2006.

Such rankings, said Economic Development Corp. CEO Mike Kazmierski, consider info points such as real estate availability, work force, telecom infrastructure and geography.

Colorado Springs scores high on all counts, and gets high marks for its insulation from extreme weather events such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes. Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Des Moines, Iowa, plus rank high, and have had recent success in attracting notes centers.

Such success, Kazmierski said, has not come entirely from natural advantages.

“Albuquerque offered one company a deal that would have exempted them from property taxes for 20 years,” he said. “Something like that just has an huge impact.”

However, the Springs is still competitive.

“We’re currently talking to 10 details center prospects, and we’ve had two visits in the last week,” Kazmierski said. “We can’t go head-to-head with someone who just wants low rates (and incentives). But we have a lot…

Orginal post by Mike

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