Land and data-center sites, North Carolina
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When was the first data center built? A short history

No record names one first data center, but dedicated computer facilities date to the 1950s and 1960s. A computer maker's archive shows a company data centre in 1963, more than 30 years before the commercial internet arrived in 1995. Data centers are more than 60 years old, not 30.

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Quick summary: This guide traces data centers from the first government computers of the 1950s to today’s campuses, with North Carolina’s own milestones from state and county records. It is for anyone who has heard that data centers are a recent invention, or that the internet is only about 30 years old. The key takeaway: dedicated computer facilities are more than 60 years old, and North Carolina has run its own for more than 30.

When the first data center was built

No public record names a single first data center, but dedicated computer facilities date to the 1950s and 1960s. The Census Bureau signed a contract for an electronic computer on March 31, 1951. Its history calls that machine the first successful civilian computer. A computer maker’s historical archive shows a company data centre in Toronto in 1963.

The answer depends on what you count. A room built around one government computer in 1951 is a computer room. A facility that a company named a data centre and ran for customers in 1963 is closer to the modern meaning. By either test, data centers are more than 60 years old. For what the building is today, see What is a data center?

Why “about 30 years” is the wrong number

The 30-year figure counts from the commercial internet, not from the first data centers. The federal NSFNET backbone retired on April 30, 1995, and traffic moved to commercial networks. That date is about 31 years ago. It marks when the internet went commercial, not when it began.

The internet itself is older. The first ARPANET message passed between two research computers on October 29, 1969. The defense research agency dates the network’s evolution into the internet to January 1983. Data centers are older still. The 1963 data centre came six years before the first ARPANET message. Are data centers bad? The objections, checked against the record checks this and other common beliefs.

A timeline of data centers

Data-center history runs in three overlapping eras: mainframe computer rooms, network interconnection, and large commercial campuses. The dates below come from the agencies and organizations that made them.

Year Milestone
1951 The Census Bureau signs a contract for an electronic computer.
1963 A computer maker’s archive shows its data centre in Toronto.
1964 A new mainframe family makes time-sharing, many users on one computer, practical.
1969 The first ARPANET message passes between two research computers.
1983 The defense research agency dates ARPANET’s evolution into the internet.
1986 The National Science Foundation launches NSFNET to connect researchers to supercomputer centers.
1994 A London internet exchange begins in leased rack space inside a data centre.
1995 The NSFNET backbone retires, and traffic moves to commercial networks.
1999 A commercial interconnection company opens its first center in Ashburn, Virginia.
2007 The EPA reports to Congress on server and data-center energy use.
2023 United States data centers use about 4.4 percent of the nation’s electricity.

The mainframe era: computer rooms and service bureaus

The first data centers were rooms built around one expensive computer that many users shared. The same computer maker’s history describes service bureaus. Customers sent data on punched cards, the bureau ran the cards through its machines, and it returned a report for a fee. Time-sharing followed. A mainframe family introduced in 1964 became powerful enough to let many users work on one computer at the same time.

The Census Bureau used its 1951 computer to tabulate part of the 1950 population census and the entire 1954 economic census. Government statistics were among the first data-center workloads.

Networks and interconnection, 1969 to 1995

From 1969 to 1995, networks connected the computer centers to each other. The National Science Foundation launched NSFNET in 1986 to connect academic researchers to a new system of supercomputer centers. NSFNET connected about 2,000 computers in 1986 and more than 2 million by 1993.

The buildings that held computers began to hold network exchanges too. In November 1994, five internet providers in London linked their networks to exchange traffic. They leased rack space in a nearly empty data centre to do it.

The short version: Data centers came first. Networks connected them, and the commercial internet of 1995 ran through them. The idea that data centers arrived with AI, or with the internet, does not match the record.

The commercial era: colocation and scale

After 1995, companies built data centers to rent to others. A commercial interconnection company opened its first center in Ashburn, Virginia, in July 1999, according to its filing with federal securities regulators.

By 2007 the federal government treated data centers as established infrastructure. The EPA’s report to Congress estimated that servers and data centers used about 61 billion kilowatt-hours in 2006, about 1.5 percent of United States electricity. The Department of Energy reports 58 terawatt-hours in 2014 and 176 terawatt-hours in 2023, about 4.4 percent.

The buildings also grew larger. The International Energy Agency estimates that hyperscale facilities grew from about 10 percent of world data-center capacity in 2010 to 37 percent. Facilities that one organization runs for its own use fell from 85 percent in 2005 to about 28 percent. What are data centers used for? lists what these buildings run now, and Why do we need data centers? covers what fails when one goes down.

North Carolina’s data-center milestones

North Carolina has run data centers for more than 30 years. State and county records date the milestones below.

These dates mark announcements, openings, and plan ages. They are different kinds of events. No record found here names the state’s first data center. Data centers in North Carolina: the announced projects, in one table lists the projects since then.

Take action: If you own former mill, farm, or timber land in North Carolina, the record can show whether it reads as a data-center site. Start with Is your land a data-center site?

Key recap

  • No record names one first data center. Dedicated computer facilities date to the 1950s, and a company data centre appears in a 1963 archive.
  • The “30 years” figure counts from the 1995 move to a commercial internet. Data centers are more than 60 years old.
  • Networks and exchanges grew up inside data centers, from 1990s London to Ashburn, Virginia.
  • North Carolina’s primary state data center has operated in Raleigh since about 1991, and a large private campus opened in Lenoir in 2008.
  • Electricity use by United States data centers rose from about 1.5 percent of the national total in 2006 to about 4.4 percent in 2023.

Questions

How long have data centers been around?

Data centers have been around for more than 60 years. The Census Bureau signed a contract for an electronic computer in 1951, and a computer maker’s archive shows a company data centre in 1963.

Are data centers older than the internet?

Yes. A company data centre appears in a 1963 archive, six years before the first ARPANET message in 1969 and more than 30 years before the internet went commercial in 1995.

When did North Carolina get its first data center?

No public record names the first one. A 2020 state plan says the state’s Eastern Data Center in Raleigh had served as its primary data center for about 29 years, which dates it to about 1991. A large private campus opened in Lenoir in 2008, according to its operator.

Did data centers start with AI?

No. Data centers ran government statistics, business systems, and the commercial internet for decades before AI became a major workload.

References

Primary sources cited on this page, in APA style.

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