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Comment by scurvy | Hacker News Reader

Technically, almost no one builds their own datacenters at this point. The new stuff is built by wholesalers like Dupont Fabros, and companies like Apple sign 20 year leases to be the sole tenant. Same goes for Facebook.

The tenant dictates the location and design, but DFT builds and runs it. 15 years ago, everyone large wanted into the datacenter game. Then they realized it sucks to own a lot of land all over and employing mainly security guards and janitors there isn't worth it. Wholesale DC to the rescue.

And yeah, I know that Digital Realty bought Dupont.

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> Same goes for Facebook.

Yeah, no. With very few exceptions FB builds and owns their own datacenters. Basically, anything you read about in the news is entirely self-owned and operated. Yes, even employing security guards. E.g. this http://money.cnn.com/2017/08/15/technology/facebook-ohio-dat...

No, yeah. Dupont said that 15% of their revenues came from Facebook. It was listed as a risk in their annual report.

FB and et al do still build their own DC's. Especially where municipalities drop their pants and offer huge tax breaks. But there's still a tremendous amount of "single tenant" purchasing done at the wholesale level by the hyperscale players.

I guess my point is that even at the top tier, people value flexibility.

Same goes for Google and Amazon. I'm sure each of these companies may lease out space from another colo for their edge computing needs, but the are primarily using DCs they built, own, operate, and staff.

They lease in carrier hotels from people like Equinix, Interxion, and Coresite for edge connections and peering.

They also buy on the wholesale market taking over entire buildings and campuses. DFT had a great business model. Leasing out entire campuses to hyperscale players on 30 year leases before even breaking ground. Pre-determined interest rates means you know exactly how much you can charge per CRSF and make a good living. Honestly, I was pretty pissed when DRT bought DFT.

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