Top 10 Data Center Stories of 2006

What were the top data center stories for 2006? Judging by the readership of Data Center Knowledge, the hot topics were data center costs, the impact of video on Internet infrastructure, and particularly the massive data center construction projects in central Washington state. It seems that anything we wrote with the word "Wenatchee" in it got lots of traffic.

So here are 10 most popular stories on Data Center Knowledge for 2006, ranked by the number of page views:

1. YouTube Gets Bandwidth Boost From Level 3: Big-pipe connectivity from Level 3 helps the video portal YouTube keep up with its rapid growth.
2. Generator Backlogs Cause Delivery Delays: The data center building boom created backlogs for the large generators that provide emergency power, with some facility operators reporting lengthy delays (up to 60 weeks) on 2 megawatt units.
3. BitTorrent Beefs Up Network Capabilities: The developer of the P2P software partners with Global Netoptex Inc. (GNi) to provide IP transit for streaming videos at one gigabit per second.
4. Microsoft Eyes Texas for $600 Million Data Center: The huge 470,000 square foot project appears to be headed for San Antonio, and the price tag has since risen to $980 million.

5. Equinix to Invest $165 Million in Chicago Facility: The expansion project by Equinix provided one of the clearest indicators of the rising cost of developing premium data centers.
6. Microsoft Buys Land in Washington for Data Center: This was the most popular of a series of articles on planned construction in Washingon State.
7. MySpace Expands Data Center Infrastructure: The expansion to Equinix proved to be timely, as subsequent power problems at LA's Garland Building caused headaches for MySpace and other tenants.
8. Yahoo Picks Wenatchee for Washington State Site: The Internet portal looked at several sites before deciding on Wenatchee.
9. Sabey Plans $100 Million Facility in Wenatchee, Wash.: What's in the water in Wenatchee? Sabey, which operates a major Seattle data center, follows Yahoo and Microsoft.
10. Yahoo Eyes Washington State for Data Center: This article, which marked the beginning of the data center building boom for central Washington, was actually published in Nov. 2005 but got lots of traffic from links in subsequent articles throughout 2006.

It should be noted that the results reflect the popularity of several stories among readers of Digg and Slashdot. The YouTube-Level 3 story, for example, was not earth-shaking in its news value but was of great interest to Diggers.

The top referring site for 2006 were, in order, Google, Slashdot, Digg, Yahoo, MSN, Data Center Talk, Yahoo Finance message boards, Ars Technica, and Topix.net.

What will be the most popular news stories for 2007? That's up to you. I'll offer some of my ideas on the coming year's key trends on the other side of the New Year's holiday.