TMCnet Feature

The big news in investor and high-tech circles of late is that Facebook (News - Alert), at long last, has filed for an IPO. The impending public offering could enable the social networking giant to raise on the order of $5 billion, and would value the firm at between $75 billion and $100 billion. So, as noted by TMC’s Rich Tehrani (News - Alert) at the ITEXPO East 2012 show earlier this month in Miami, this IPO is expected to create a lot of wealth for many in Silicon Valley, a fair portion of which are likely to sink that money into new enterprises.

The money, tech community and history in the San Francisco/San Jose area mean that many of these new businesses are likely to launch there. But these would-be entrepreneurs might also want to consider locating their new businesses in Arizona.

Admittedly, Arizona has been in the news a lot in recent months – and not necessarily in a good way. Think about the Grand Canyon state and SB 1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration law, may come to mind. You may also have seen the national news blip noting the fact that the Scottsdale Gun Club last year celebrated the holidays by offering family photo shoots featuring rifles and Santa Claus.

What you may not know, or have noted, about Arizona, however, is the fact that the state is ideally positioned to be a data center hub. That’s because we’re away from the earthquakes that plague California and the Pacific Northwest, far from the tornado-prone areas of the Midwest and Southeast, and out of reach of hurricanes and tsunamis.

Wouldn’t it be ideal to place more data centers in an environment in which the biggest climate challenge is extreme heat – which is really not that big of a challenge at all considering all data centers are climate controlled anyway (and considering we have a wealth of solar power resources)?

I’ve lived in Arizona for 13 years. Compared to places like Silicon Valley, it’s incredibly affordable. The natural beauty here is beyond belief. And it could be a pretty great hub for the data center business as well.