Data Foundry to Build Master-Planned Greenfield Data Center in Austin

Data center operator Data Foundry, which provides colocation and disaster recovery services, this week announced plans for a new master-planned greenfield data center development in Austin.

According to company officials, construction on the first phase of the $150 million 250,000-square-foot data center will begin in July, with a projected completion date in Q2 2011. The new facility will become the only purpose-built, carrier-neutral data center in the central Texas region.

The company performed extensive site research to locate an existing building in Austin would suit their needs for their next site, according to Ed Henigin, chief technology officer of Data Foundry.

"It became clear that retrofitting an existing building would not allow us to deliver the high level of service that we envision for our new data center, so we have chosen to build from the ground up. We are very excited to be constructing Austin's first world-class Greenfield data center," Henigin said.

The new facility will become the only purpose-built, carrier-neutral data center in the central Texas region and is the new data center will be the company's second in Austin and third facility in total.

Austin is a popular location for data centers due to its low occurrence of natural disasters and reliable, cost effective power available through the state's independent power grid, Web Host Industry Review reported.

The new development will have the ability to deliver over 100 megawatts of power, pulling power from two independent sub-stations, and offering end-to-end underground power supply, company officials said.

In other Data Foundry news, the Austin-based company announced that after an exhaustive search for a colocation provider, Forestar Group Inc. has chosen Data Foundry.

Forestar Group, also Austin-based, is focused on sustainability and growth solutions in real estate, mineral resources and fiber resources, will leverage Data Foundry's colocation facility infrastructure for its mission-critical server needs, including redundant power, HVAC and network services, according to company officials.