"The Minneapolis/St. Paul data center market is one of the nation’s fastest growing regions. A business-friendly tax climate and Minnesota’s cool natural environment have made the area a haven for data centers and corporate offices. Savvis, the cloud colocation and managed IT services arm of CenturyLink, announced that the company will construct a data center in the area.
The MP2 data center, slated for a spring 2014 opening, will be built on a 10-acre campus in Shakopee, located about 25 miles southwest of downtown Minneapolis. The facility will initially offer 13,000 square feet of raised floor space and 1.2 megawatts of IT load. Subsequent construction will result in a data center with 100,000 square feet of raised floor space and the capacity to support 4.8 megawatts of IT load. It will be the Minneapolis/St. Paul region’s first multitenant Tier III and LEED certified data center.
“The Twin Cities area has long served as a hub of activity to retailers, consumer brands, healthcare and media companies — all of which need more convenient and secure ways to access, maintain and manage their rapidly expanding data,” stated Savvis president Jeff Von Deylen. “Our investment in the MP2 data center signifies our strong commitment to providing businesses in the Minneapolis-St. Paul region with access to world-class colocation, cloud and managed-hosting services.”
MP2 is Savvis’ second data center in the region. It complements MP1, which offers more than 7,000 square feet of space and 375 kilowatts of IT load. Among Savvis’ other managed services offerings, the facility provides free access to Savvis ClientConnect, an online gateway that enables tenants to connect and share services with companies in Savvis’ other data centers, which number more than 50 in North America, Europe and Asia.
“We are investing in technology infrastructure that allows our diverse business community to continue to grow and innovate,” said Duane Ring, CenturyLink Midwest region president. “We’re pleased to announce the first phase of development for this new data center and look forward to the opportunities this creates for businesses in the Twin Cities and around the world.”
Twin Cities: Data Center Power Market
The Minneapolis/St. Paul region offers many favorable conditions for data center colocation. Tax incentives provided by the state of Minnesota have created one of the most attractive financial climates for colocation facilities. Incentives include a new 20-year sales tax exemption for data center equipment and software, as well as for construction projects of at least 25,00 square feet and $30 million four-year spend, Colliers reported. Operators can also access the incentives through retrofitting projects totaling at least $50 million spent over two years."
