Compass: We’ll Build Data Center in 6 Months or Pay $100,000

Exclusive: Realizing that the short time it takes to deliver one of its 1.2-megawatt facilities, Compass Datacenters will now guarantee that it will finish a data center within six months of signing, complete with Tier III and LEED Gold certification, or pay $100,000 to the customer if it fails to meet the deadline.

Chris Crosby, co-founder and CEO of the Dallas-based developer, said the three-year-old company’s clients have said that speed of delivery has become a big differentiator for Compass. “We’ve built all of the sites in this six-month window,” he said.

The count-down starts from the moment a construction site is “pad-ready.”

“No-one is doing greenfield [in a timeframe] anywhere close to that. It’s unheard of.” A typical greenfield build takes more than a year.

One of the biggest benefits of a shorter timeframe is the ability to better align IT with the data center that supports it.

In the 18 or so months you usually have to wait for a greenfield data center, your entire IT environment may go through a major transition, Crosby said. With a guaranteed six-month delivery time, you have a better idea of what exactly will go into the facility and can plan the layout and supporting infrastructure accordingly.

Compass has a single standard data center design for a 1.2-megawatt facility and all supporting infrastructure. The company targets underserved second-tier U.S. markets.

Because it has one design, Compass is in the position to guarantee both Uptime Institute’s Tier III and the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certifications. All four data centers the company has built so far have successfully completed both certifications.

The six-month guarantee applies to clients who own the data centers Compass builds and clients who lease the facilities.

The developer’s clients include CenturyLink, Windstream, Iron Mountain and American Electric Power. Compass announced the AEP deal earlier this week.

In May, the company closed a $100 million funding round to fund expansion.