Hey,
I want to open my own data center and need to know what all i need for it. Louisiana good or bad for it?

First and foremost, you need LOTS of money. If you want a real data center, there's a lot of planning involved. And to build a data center that's not a complete joke you're going to need at least a few million dollars. You will also need to hire an engineer so you do things the right way.

There's all kinds of things to consider. Power requirements (UPS, Generator, wiring), cooling (HVAC, raised floor, etc), bandwidth availability, seismic bracing, security systems and secure entry, full redundancy, etc.

Of course you can always stick an air conditioner and some telco racks in a closet and call that a data center, as many people do, but if you want any serious clientele that won't fly.

Bottom line, opening a data center is serious business and it takes a lot of money and planning. If you don't have a few million to burn and a good idea of what it takes, you won't get very far.

Regards,
Aaron

For the most part, you won't need millions if you lease a small building that was owned by a ISP, for example, there are a few DC's that are no longer in use by Verio in Chicago(or another good ISP/Bandwidth provider.).

First of all, you would need a business plan, Financing, etc
www.sba.gov || http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/startup/guide.html
www.score.gov

Then after the most important part is handled,(above). You will need the servers.
www.dell.com || http://www1.us.dell.com/content/defa...=04&l=en&s=bsd

Routers, switches, Hubs, etc.
www.dell.com & another website i forget.:(

Support Staff, and in-house 24/7 support.
There are a few good outsourcing support sites I saw in a magazine. But you will need In-House support & Network Admin's.


There's more to that, but do you know anything about Networking, General Server stuff?

Yes i know about networking, and servers.

Personally, take my advice if you don't know what you need then don't bother starting one.

People have to learn somehow right? Can't shoot someone down for wanting to learn.. Maybe he is interested in opening one 2-3 years down the road..

If he is interstered in opening one now and asking then I don't recommend it. Down the line is OK.

Well, I would suggest Cisco for routers :) My 2 cents :D But, really you can make a DC without millions, you can spend less, as someone said get some space in a ISP building :)

I disagree on Cisco Routers. If you're going to start a Network then use Juniper. Ciscos can't handle a network as well as a Juniper can.

Max, Don't make a recommendation unless you used both Cisco and Juniper and can tell the difference and speaking from experience if you have used a Juniper you would NEVER in a million years recommend Cisco.