or the DataRUs LLC case study provided, make the recommendations and justifications for the data center site and configurations that best meet the needs of the business.

You may use the excel template provided and expand or edit it as needed. You will need to focus on costs of operation, build and the issue of data latency - as well as the environmental risk factors involved. Using the workbook you should be able to analyze and write a recommendation in 1-2 workbook pages

Review the DataRUs Case Study:

Background and Your Role

You are the lead partner for DataRUs LLC. DataRUs has just been hired by Adams Inc. of Pella, Iowa to provide analysis and recommendations on a new back-up Data Center location. Adams Inc. has provided three real estate locations for the new data center. DataRUs is to analyze the three options and make a recommendation based on the analysis. Since the data center will be built greenfield you have been asked to use construction estimates (cost per square foot) and assume that construction will be to appropriate specifications. DataRUss role is limited to the site selection phase.

You have been provided the locations and potential building costs per location. You know the power and cooling consumption of Adams, Inc. primary data center which you can use as an estimate of consumption in the back-up data center (when powered). You will need to examine the risks and benefits of each site and the potential for each site to support the data center.

Make your final recommendation with the estimated costs to build and the estimated costs to operate the back-up data center when fully powered.

Adams Inc. Background

Adams Inc. manufactures agricultural and industrial equipment that is built tough and backed by industry leading customer service. Their growth has been tied to sales in the progressing world and relies in part on the financing arm of their organization.

Adams Inc. has 3,000 employees worldwide and customers in more than 60 nations. They have seven manufacturing facilities in Pella, Iowa and satellite manufacturing facilities in Freeman, South Dakota and Beijing, China. Support offices include Adams Europe, Middle East, and Africa (AEMEA); Adam Asia Pacific (AAP); Adams China Sales and Support (ACS) and Adams Latin America (ALA), as well as several wholly or partially-owned subsidiaries in North America and Europe. They sell into the following markets: agriculture, surface, mining, utility installation, pipeline installation, tree and forestry management.

The company has sales of $1 billion. As a privately held company there is limited information on cash flow, balance sheet, margins, or SGA. The company appears to be profitable having operated for over 60 years. Its main competitors are Caterpillar and John Deere. For the purposes of this exercise assume that IT spending is 2% of revenues.

Adams Incs IT infrastructure is fully located in Pella, Iowa at corporate headquarters at corner of Prarie St and Oskaloosa St. They currently have 400 Terrabytes of data which is growing at 8% / year. The data center consumes 200 Megawatts annually and 180 million gallons of water annually for cooling. They have a data backup capability with data replicated and stored in their facilities in Freeman, South Dakota. Their main systems consist of an SAP sales management and finance management modules. They also have enabled the HR and general accounting modules so its safe to assume that the core of the business capabilities rests on SAP applications. The manufacturing inventory is also maintained in SAP but the production and engineering aspects are individually supported at each manufacturing site. Given the cost per item of the equipment they sell we can assume that they maintain limited quantities of equipment and manufacture almost to a demand basis. Distribution is supported by a third-party organizations in each geographic market place.

Site A

12 acres of land located at 2411 Bos Landen Dr, Pella, IA

Land cost is $2,000,000 (former golf course)

Location is within 25 miles of primary data center; data latency would be predicted to be low

Proposed data center structure is a Tier 2 data center with 10,000 square feet of planned space.

Tier 2 cost in this area is $1,500 / sq foot. This data center can be designed to be green which would reduce electricity and water use by 25% at an additional cost of $1,000,000.

Site B

12 acres of land located at 44908 American Legion Road, Iowa City IA 52240

Land cost is $3,000,000 (farmland of local farmers who live in the area)

Location is within 100 miles of primary data center; data latency would be predicted to be manageable.

Proposed data center structure is a Tier 2 data center with 10,000 square feet of planned space.

Tier 2 cost in this area is $1,300 / sq foot. This data center can be designed to be green which would reduce electricity and water use by 25% at an additional cost of $1,000,000.

Site C

12 acres of land located at 4506 Rotary Road, Rockford, IL 61109

Land cost is $2,500,000 (farmland)

Location is approximately 250 miles away from primary data center, data latency would require additional investments (to be determined)

Proposed data center structure is a Tier 2 data center with 10,000 square feet of planned space.

Tier 2 cost in this area is $1,200 / sq foot. This data center can be designed to be green which would reduce electricity and water use by 25% at an additional cost of $1,500,000.

Download the DataRUs Analysis Workbook:

	Site A	Site B	Site C
Capacity of local Electric Providers
Reliability of the Electrical Grid
Water sources in the area
Reliability of the water supply
Geographic Risks
Tornado
Hurricane
Snow / Ice / Blizzards
Flooding
Wildfire
Earthquake
Droughts
Transportation Risks
Airfields
Rail Lines
Gas Pipelines
Highways
Nuclear Facilities
Green Design
Latency from Primary Site
Economic viability of local area
Cost of Construction
Cost of Power
Cost of Cooling