Largest and most advanced data center in the world opens near Reno

Just 18 months ago, Switch was talking about their move to the Reno-Sparks area as part of a renaissance of business growth that included the addition of a Tesla gigafactory.

Switch is the world leader in data-center development and mission-critical operations and call most of the Fortune 100 their clients. They already have a "campus" in Las Vegas which has the capacity of up to 2.4 million square feet of data center space and capacity to deliver up to 325-megawatts of power, the most advanced and most efficient data center campus in the world. They also have centers in Grand Rapids, Mich., Thailand and Italy.

And now there is Reno.

Called "Tahoe Reno 1 - The Citadel Campus," the new facility is now the largest in the world at 1.3 million square feet. This first stage has 130-megawatts of power and one of several new data buildings planned at the "campus." Prior to this, the largest single data-center building was a 1.1 million square feet facility in Chicago.

They plan to make the region better connected to the internet world than anywhere else with 1G fiber to every home as their long range plan. They also plan to expand to 7.2 million square feet with up to 650-megawatts.

Prior to opening their new facility on Wednesday, they funded the half-million-dollar interior build-out of the University of Nevada, Reno's Innevation Center in downtown Reno, creating a hub of innovation and commercialization.

"Explosive growth is coming," said Mike Kazmierski, President and CEO of the Economic Development Authority of Western Nevada (EDAWN) 18 months ago when he spoke to a group in South Lake Tahoe. "When we work together, the whole region is more successful."

The new facility is powered by 100% renewable energy and it connected to the Switch Las Vegas facilities by a dedicated 7ms fiber network, creating the world’s largest active-active data center ecosystem on the planet.