A massive, $700 million data center code-named "Project Mountain" slated to be built in Des Moines, Iowa, however, no one seems to know what company is behing the initiative. Some are speculating that Amazon (Nasdaq: AMZN) or Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) are moving into the area.
Facebook, Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) already have or are building their own data centers in the state. And given the size of the project and the tendency of tech companies to follow each other into new areas, Wired and other market watchers see Apple and Amazon as the most likely commercial candidates for the project.
Another possibility is the government, specifically the NSA, the Wired article said. Apple and Amazon declined to comment to Wired on the report.
In any case, Project Mountain will create at least 24 new jobs in the area, according to state documents.
While almost all telecom service providers have some presence in data centers, not all build their own centers. Some, like Zayo, are expanding their data center square footage through acquisitions of existing providers, while others provide services through major data centers or IP exchanges.
Amazon, of course, has a dominant data center and cloud services presence with its AWS (Amazon Web Services), which handles services for large and small enterprises including online video traffic for major players like Netflix (Nasdaq: NFLX).
For more:
- see this story
Related articles:
EarthLink enhances cloud platform with new San Jose data center
Windstream Hosted Solutions plans fourth data center in Charlotte
Zayo acquires Core NAP, expands data center footprint
Netflix blames Amazon for Christmas Eve outage