Switch, Inc. is an American company based in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, that develops and operates the SUPERNAP data center facilities and provides colocation,

telecommunications Telecommunication, often used in its plural form or abbreviated as telecom, is the transmission of information over a distance using electronic means, typically through cables, radio waves, or other communication technologies. These means of ...

cloud services Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to ISO. Essential characteristics ...

, and content ecosystems.Overgaard, Krist
"Switch SUPERNAP Named as the First and Only Registered Hosting Center for Online Gaming by the Nevada Gaming Commission"
Nevada Business. May 31, 2013

History

Switch Inc. was established in 2000 by Rob Roy, who is both the CEO and the company's leading inventor and chief engineer.Miller, Ric
"SuperNAP 8 Earns Tier IV Gold Status for Operations"
Data Center Knowledge. August 5, 2014 In 2002, Roy acquired a former

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

facility in Nevada through an auction he was the sole attendee of, due to the secretive nature of Enron's fiber plans. This facility, which the company had previously heavily invested in, was purchased for only $930,000. The facility was built in a rundown area of

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, near E Sahara, constructed right over the "backbone" of fiber optic cables providing service to technology companies nationwide, which Enron sought to use as a way to sell bandwidth to Internet service providers like a commodity. By 2008, Switch planned to construct its first SUPERNAP facility, aiming to outperform competitors like

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

and

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

with a $350 million investment. Roy claimed this facility could accommodate four times as much equipment as those of the mentioned tech giants. Switch is a CLEC (

Competitive Local Exchange Carrier A competitive local exchange carrier (CLEC) is a North American telecommunications provider classification that emerged based on the competition model of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 in the United States. The act required the previously esta ...

) that sells all telecommunications services. As of July 2015, half of the company's 14 top executives are women.Rothberg, Daniel
“With seven women among its top 14 executives, Switch sets itself apart.”
Vegas Inc. July 20, 2015 Seventy-percent of the current workforce are

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in an job, occupation or Craft, field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in the military, armed forces. A topic o ...

.Evans, Pat
"Regional tech industry welcomes Switch."
Grand Rapids Business Journal. Dec. 18, 2015 In 2015, the company became the first data center service in the U.S. to participate in President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's American Business Act on Climate Pledge.Booth, Nick
"Switch joins carbon campaign, announces 100MW solar farm."
Datacenter Dynamics. Aug. 26, 2015 Switch is currently constructing the first of two

solar farms A photovoltaic power station, also known as a solar park, solar farm, or solar power plant, is a large-scale grid-connected photovoltaic power system (PV system) designed for the supply of merchant power. They are different from most building ...

, which will provide renewable energy to its data centers.Sverdlik, Yevgeniy
“Switch Joins Obama’s Business Climate Pledge, Plans 100 MW Solar Project in Nevada.”
Data Center Knowledge. Aug. 24, 2015 As of January 1, 2016, all Switch data centers are powered exclusively by clean and renewable energy. In 2016 Switch joined the WWF/WRI Renewable Buyers’ Principles. In its 2017 report on the energy footprint of the IT sector,

Greenpeace Greenpeace is an independent global campaigning network, founded in Canada in 1971 by a group of Environmental movement, environmental activists. Greenpeace states its goal is to "ensure the ability of the Earth to nurture life in all its biod ...

recognized Switch for the company's use of renewable energy in its data centers. In 2020, construction started on a 555 MW solar project in Nevada, of which 127 MW is behind-the-meter at Citadel. The company was taken private in December 2022, following an $11 billion acquisition by

DigitalBridge DigitalBridge Group, Inc. is a global digital infrastructure investment firm. The company owns, invests in and operates businesses such as cell towers, data centers, fiber, small cells, and edge infrastructure. Headquartered in Boca Raton, Digita ...

and IFM Investors.

Data centers

In 2008, the company opened SUPERNAP 7, a facility, its seventh data center. In 2017, LAS VEGAS 10 opened adding approximately of data center space. The Core Campus located in

consists of eleven operating data centers spanning over . At completion of construction, The Core Campus will measure more than with 12 buildings.Luxford, Holli
"SuperNAP Data Centers Branches Out of the US"
Data Center Dynamics. March 13, 2014Miller, Ric
"Shutterfly Deploys 1,000 Cabinets at Switch SUPERNAP"
Data Center Knowledge. October 16, 2014 Power to the data facilities will be generated through two solar generation projects, Switch Station 1 and Switch Station 2. The Switch Stations will produce 179-megawatts of power and were originally part of a joint construction project through First Solar in partnership with NV Energy.Miller, Rich
"Switch goes green with renewable power for SUPERNAPs."
Data Center Frontier. Jan. 5, 2016 In June 2017, EDF Renewable Energy acquired the two solar projects from First Solar. Switch has sued NV Energy for $30 million over disagreements about power price, and in 2016 Switch was allowed to switch from NV Energy to its own solar power plants at an "exit fee" of $27 million. In January, 2015 Switch announced a $4 billion expansion plan to build a new data center campus east of Reno in Storey County. The Citadel Campus at Tahoe Reno Industrial Center (TRIC) is over and is expected to have more than of data center space at completion. In February 2017, Switch opened its first data center on the campus, TAHOE RENO 1, which will be more than , have 130 MVA power capacity, and more than 83,000 tons of cooling capability, making it the largest data center campus in the world.Hidalgo, Jason
"On Switch: Reno-area SuperNAP to be largest data center on Earth."
Reno Gazette-Journal. Sept. 14, 2015 Switch's Pyramid Campus (former Steelcase Pyramid) in

Grand Rapids, Michigan Grand Rapids is the largest city and county seat of Kent County, Michigan, United States. With a population of 198,917 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 200,117 in 2024, Grand Rapids is the List of municipalities ...

, was opened in May 2017. At completion, it will reach up to making it the largest data center campus in the eastern U.S.Harger, Jim
"Switch confirms plans for $5B investment, 1,000 jobs at West Michigan data center."
Nov. 16, 2015

SUPERNAP International

In 2014, Switch formed SUPERNAP International in partnership with ACDC Fund and its two limited partners Orascom TMT Investments and Accelero Capital to build data centers based on designs from the Tier IV-rated Switch SUPERNAP U.S. facilities. The two new SUPERNAP International campus projects under construction are located in Siziano, Italy slated to open late 2016 and the Chonburi Province, Thailand, campus opening in early 2017.Longhitano, Lorenzo
"Internet, aprirà in Italia il principale snodo di connettività europeo."
Wired Italy. Oct. 6, 2015Mah, Paul
"Construction begins on SuperNAP Thailand"
Datacenter Dynamics. Jan. 27, 2016 The SUPERNAP data center campus in Siziano, Italy, will be and have 40-megawatt power distributed via two 132kV transmission paths. The US$300 million (11 billion THB) Thailand SUPERNAP data center facility will have capacity for more than 6,000 data server racks. It will cover an area of nearly 75 rai (12 hectares) and is located 27-kilometers away from an international cable landing station linking national and international telecoms and IT carriers.Sverdlik, Yevgeniy
"Switch Building SuperNap Mega Data Center in Thailand"
Data Center Knowledge. Jan. 14, 2016

Locations

Switch headquarters are in

, with data center facilities and Innovation Centers located in northern and southern

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. The firm added a campus in Grand Rapids,

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, and recently announced plans to develop a more than data center campus in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

.Harger, Jim
"$5B Switch data center in Steelcase pyramid is 'Michigan's to lose'"
Mlive. Nov 30, 2015

Customers

Switch has hundreds of clients, including Fortune 1000 companies.Brodkin, Joh
"Meet Rob Roy, the man who built the SuperNAP data center"
Network World. Jan. 22, 2009 According to ''

The Register ''The Register'' (often also called El Reg) is a British Technology journalism, technology news website co-founded in 1994 by Mike Magee (journalist), Mike Magee and John Lettice. The online newspaper's Nameplate_(publishing), masthead Logo, s ...

'', "organizations turn to Switch for black-ops projects, spam filtering of the most serious proportions, utility computing projects, data warehouses at casinos, modeling, online games and ordinary e-commerce". Switch developed an over $5 trillion purchasing cooperative to allow customers to collectively purchase telecommunications and other services across all of its campuses.

Certifications and awards

Switch SUPERNAP 8 data center has received Tier IV Gold Operational Sustainability Certificate from the

Uptime Institute 451 Group is a New York City-based technology industry research firm. Through its Uptime Institute operating unit, the company provides research for data center operators. In December 2019, 451 Group sold an operating division, 451 Research, to in ...

, a Tier IV Constructed Facility Certificate and Tier IV Design Certificate. In addition, Switch SUPERNAP 9 has received a Tier IV Gold Operational Sustainability Certificate, a Tier IV Design Certificate and a Tier IV Constructed Facility Certificate.

Supercomputers

In 2014, the firm announced collaboration with

Intel Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and Delaware General Corporation Law, incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer compo ...

and the

University of Nevada, Las Vegas The University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Paradise, Nevada, United States. The campus is about east of the Las Vegas Strip. It was formerly part of the ...

to give university researchers access to a powerful supercomputer. iSupercomputer Cherry Creek will be housed on Switch's campus, with researchers accessing the computer through the SUPERNAP facilities' telecommunications network.Schmidt, Wil
"UNLV Awarded the Use of Intel's World-Class Supercomputer Cherry Creek"
Tech Cocktail Las Vegas. Oct. 13, 2014 In 2017, the firm donated $3.4 million in data center services to the University of Nevada, Reno for a new supercomputer, called Pronghorn. The supercomputer will be housed in the TAHOE RENO 1 data center, and it is expected that the initial hardware installation will be completed in September 2017.

Collaborative centers

The firm has designed a center in Las Vegas, Nevada. It partnered with the University of Nevada, Reno to develop the northern Nevada-based center in Reno which opened in September 2015. The centers are intended for collaboration between students, entrepreneurs, businesses, investors and non-profits.Villarreal, Crysta
"Straight Shooter"
Site Selection They are named "inNEVation Center". The Reno center is home to the Nevada Advanced Autonomous Systems Innovation Center (NAASIC). Funded by a grant from Governor's Office of Economic Development, it hosts programs to commercialize stationary robotic and advanced manufacturing systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, driverless cars, and underwater robots.Wolterbeek, Mike
"NAASIC to spur autonomous systems development, receives $3 million in state funding"
University of Reno

References

Relevant patents

Patent number 8,072,780 December 6, 2011 * [http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-adv.htm&r=16&f=G&l=50&d=PTXT&p=1&S1=8180495&OS=8180495&RS=8180495 U.S. Patent-Server system with heat dissipation device] Patent number 8,300,402 October 30, 2012
U.S. Patent-Data center air handling unit
Patent number 8,469,782 June 25, 2013

Patent number 8,523,643 September 3, 2013 * [http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=9198331.PN.&OS=PN/9198331&RS=PN/9198331 U.S. Patent-Data center facility design configuration] Patent number 9,198,331 November 24, 2015

External links

*
''A Look Inside the Vegas SuperNAP''
Data Center Knowledge {{Authority control Networking companies of the United States Companies based in Enterprise, Nevada Internet mirror services 2000 establishments in Nevada American companies established in 2000 2017 initial public offerings Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Cooperatives based in Nevada