Cobalt Data Centers woos clients with amenities built for geeks

Jefferson Brown, president of Cobalt Data Centers, has found a way to differentiate his operation from the stereotypical image of a large, dark, foreboding facility stacked to the roof with servers kept in a cool environment.

Cobalt is treating geeks like people and adding the kind of amenities that are common in offices but rare in the high-tech backrooms of the server farm.

Cobalt’s nondescript facility in a business park in northwest Las Vegas has everything you would expect to find in a mission-critical data center.

There are multiple levels of security, including guards, video surveillance, fingerprint scanners and retina scans. All the high-tech provisions are designed to protect the servers holding crucial data for financial institutions, gaming companies, health care facilities and even small mom-and-pop businesses.

There are diesel-powered generators to keep the 5.5 megawatts of electricity on in case of a power outage. The facility also features a waterless fire suppression system that quickly activates in case of an emergency to save all the data housed in the facility.

But there is also a conference room and two offices set up with desks and computers for Cobalt’s clients to use when on-site.

Deeper into the 34,000-square-foot facility, you can find a fully stocked kitchen, an outdoor patio surrounded by secure fencing, restrooms, showers and even a common area with TVs and video games for clients to use. Although those amenities may not be the most important aspect for clients seeking to buy space in data centers, Brown said focus groups stressing the importance of being people-friendly have presented an “aha” moment for Cobalt’s leadership team.

“This is going to be something that differentiates us from how our business is characterized,” he said. “In the past — and this is not just Cobalt but data centers in general — we’ve set aside the people element of operating a data center. We are trying to develop a people piece to our business. Culturally, we need to stop thinking of it as only powering and cooling computers.”

The approach is one reason Cobalt has become a hot brand. Of course, the recent certification by the Nevada Gaming Commission and Gaming Control Board, allowing gaming companies to store data with Cobalt, didn’t hurt.

Brown and Cobalt leadership’s team have used the information gleaned from focus groups to help set the company apart from other data centers. The facility is smaller than most data centers, which makes it easier for clients to access the building and get around the facility to do the necessary work on their servers.

“With some of the big players in this industry, there are buildings 300,000 to 500,000 square feet. There is a lot of inefficiency and hassle for clients,” Brown said. “After you park your car and go through security, you’ve walked half a mile just to get to your computer to do your work. If you need to go to bathroom, you have to walk a quarter mile. There is a pressure to create economic leverage by building them so big they become dysfunctional and impractical to the people side of the business.

“I love this size facility… I’m also practical, my customers can go from a parking lot, through all of that security, and be at their cabinet in five minutes.”

Another focus group with computer technicians found concerns about not being able to see in some of the other larger data centers. Cobalt’s solution: The center is painted bright white with energy-efficient lights programmed to turn on whenever someone enters the room.

“Traditionally, data centers are dark, neon with a ‘Star Wars’-feel to it that is meant to impress you and it works,” Brown said. “First-time buyers of this stuff — the guy moving out of his conference room for the first time — walks into some of these other data centers and they are enamored with the sexiness and sizzle of the way it looks.

“The problem is you send that tech out here for three days working around the clock trying to build this stuff and plug in things and make sure it all works, and he has to wear a headlamp because it’s dark in there. You walk into mine and it looks like a bright, white hospital.”

Although being people-friendly is important to the leadership and staff at Cobalt, Brown knows that its competitors can easily add the same amenities and that what matters to clients is that their information is safe.

That concern for safety includes a tight lid on information about Cobalt’s customers. Gaming operators contacted for this story declined comment on any aspect of the data center marketplace.

Brown, who has more than 20 years of experience developing and leading technology sales organizations, is using that same people-friendly approach in DRFortress, the largest data center and cloud services operator in Hawaii. He owns that facility separate from Cobalt.

“The people who know me call me the destination data center guy,” Brown said. “In Hawaii, we just did a joint venture in Guam. My career is starting to become developing unlikely places for data centers.

“Knock on wood, I’ve been very successful so far.”

Brown, Cobalt and other data center operators are exploring other areas to place their facilities outside of California’s Silicon Valley. Brown said there are many concerns about California, what with earthquakes, skyrocketing land prices, expensive labor and worries over the state’s financial stability.

On Aug. 24, a 6.0 earthquake hit the Bay Area, stirring even more interest in Nevada data centers.

Brown knows all too well the problems earthquakes present to data centers. He still lives in the Bay Area with his family and was home when the latest earthquake happened. Although he is not opposed to living in Las Vegas, he has two children in high school and does not want to move them. He commutes from the Bay Area to Las Vegas every week.

“It’s not easy getting up and getting on a plane every Monday morning and being away from my family, but it’s that commitment to Southern Nevada that gets me to do it,” Brown said “We have a really neat, practical, functional facility, and that is a testament to how much confidence I have in the Las Vegas market.”

Moving that information out of California has taken some convincing, as most IT staffs are reluctant to move their servers too far away. Surrounding California and pulling those data centers out of the state is another important pillar of Cobalt’s business plan.

“It was monumental to get them to take (their servers) out of the conference room and put them down the street,” Brown said. “It’s almost unthinkable to say we are going to take it out of California and put it in Las Vegas. According to the risk map, Las Vegas is the ideal location for West Coast operations.”

Cobalt is not just stopping with luring data centers out of California. The company is also going after companies in the eastern United States that are looking to expand west. That means Las Vegas is competing with facilities in Phoenix and Salt Lake City.