Property developer Thomas Healy is backing the €50 million development of Ireland's largest data centre in the former Verbatim factory in Limerick, writes John Collins.
The 11,148sq m (120,000sq ft) facility is scheduled to open for business in June 2008.
Mr Healy said that the new facility would employ about 50 people, significantly less than the 200 Verbatim employed before the factory closed in the late 1990s.
But Mr Healy expects significant spin-offs both from local firms supplying the data centre and new businesses that may locate in the region because of its presence. Rackfloor will be the first major data centre in Ireland to be built outside the Dublin area. The development is being backed through a combination of Mr Healy's own resources and bank credit. "The reactivation of the Verbatim factory is a major event for Limerick," said Rackfloor chief executive Jason Ó Conaill. "Putting a new business in the new economy into this landmark facility is exactly in line with government policy."
He said data centres were attractive to property developers like Mr Healy as they commanded rents 15 to 20 times that of commercial property and involved long-term contracts with blue chip clients.
Rackfloor will operate as a wholesale data centre selling space to large firms and hosting companies who will take a minimum amount of floor space and then fit it out with their own technology. Mr Ó Conaill said he was already in discussion with customers who were considering leasing the entire facility.
High-specification data centres are crucial for so-called "knowledge economy" enterprises who do business online or have significant computing requirements.
To ensure continuous operation they require multiple sources of broadband connectivity and power. A key element of the scheme is the production of electrical power on-site.
The development of data centres in Ireland has been hampered because of their significant electricity requirements which place a strain on the national grid.
Rackfloor is planning to enter a joint venture with a specialist partner to generate 16 megawatts of power on-site from natural gas. Mr Ó Conaill said it expected to be able to reduce its electricity bill by 60 per cent compared to the cost of mains power.
Mr Ó Conaill was most recently sales director with Servecentric, one of Ireland's largest data centres.
Rackfloor's chief financial officer, John Mitchell, is a director of web development firm Strata3 and was formerly a financial analyst with JP Morgan in New York.
The location in the Raheen Industrial Estate was chosen because it is home to a number of multinationals including Dell, Banta Global Turnkey and Analog Devices, and is close to Shannon Airport.
Mr Healy is also developing a logistics centre in Raheen and said he has full planning permission for another 10-acre site in the area.
