Datacenter security is cute.

Friday I toured Internap’s new facility in Tukwila, WA (just south of Seattle). Hands down it’s the best commercial datacenter in the greater Seattle region. 30″ raised floors, built out to 200 watts per square foot, lots of expansion room, and a staff who knows their facility. Internap’s security was decent, but I mostly laugh at the ridiculousness of some security measures. For example, it’s a well publicized fact that SoftLayer’s shiny new Seattle datacenter is in Internap’s Tukwila facility. While touring the facility, I asked where SoftLayer was hosted, and was told they couldn’t confirm or deny that SoftLayer was hosted in that building. Five minutes later, we got into an elevator with a gentleman wearing a SoftLayer polo shirt. We headed into the main colo floor, and I commented on the sexiness of a very well designed, and meticulously cabled cage. I stated conversationally “SoftLayer does a great job of their wiring plant”. Again, no confirmation that this was SoftLayer’s cage. A minute later the same SoftLayer tech walked out of that cage.