Data Centers – Part 3 – Pooled Infrastructure

One of the hot new growth areas in data centers is what I call “pooled infrastructure”.  The data center is a pool of interchangeable servers that can be rented out on a moment’s notice.  For example, a customer can rent out 30 servers during peak usage and 10 servers during off-peak usage.  Allowing customers to share a pool of servers greatly increases hardware utilization.

Along with the push towards renting out server capacity, the infrastructure providers are bundling value-added software with their infrastructure to save time administering and setting up the infrastructure.

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Data centers – Part 2 – Centralized management

With traditional colocation, a data center will rent out space to many different customers.  Each customer brings in their own server hardware.  One of the trends among data centers is to have the data center purchase and manage all of the hardware.  This creates various economies of scale and benefits such as:

1. Standardization of hardware within a data center allows for elasticity and rapid provisioning of a server.  This opens up a new market for customers who want to rent servers.  Customers can have an operating serving within minutes or hours rather than weeks.
2. Software can automate the process of setting up servers.
3. Centralizing the purchasing and management of hardware reduces the inventory of spare parts that must be kept on site.  It also allows for repairs to have a much faster turnaround time because clients do not need to physically go to the data center to repair their servers.  These are very minor efficiencies.
4. If clients do not need to actually visit their servers, certain efficiencies are possible.  Vertical integration between data center design and server design allows for various capex and opex savings from power efficiency and cheaper servers.
5. Some infrastructure providers offer managed IT services.  They help customers to secure their servers, to maintain the server’s software, etc. etc.

Data centers – Part 1 – Overview

In data centers, the most interesting areas currently are in:

1. Software.  In particular, Amazon has been a pioneer in creating value-added software that helps software companies quickly setup databases and servers and backup storage.  Google, Microsoft, and IBM/SoftLayer are doing somewhat similar things.  The problem is that the data center segments of these companies likely will not move the needle much.
2. IT services.  Rackspace in particular is doing very interesting things.

The least interesting areas are companies that are mainly involved in selling space in a building because that business is a commodity.  Those companies will not  make a lot of money and they will not lose a lot of money.  While I think a lot of the data center REITs are overvalued and are suckering institutional investors into overpaying for their stock, they are not compelling shorts because they aren’t losing money quickly.  As well, many (legitimate) data center companies have been taken over at large premiums by companies like Verizon and Cogeco Cable at valuations I would disagree with.

*Disclosure: No positions.

A quick comment about Chinese frauds and leaving racism at the door

The rampant fraud among Chinese reverse mergers and Chinese stocks listed on foreign exchanges has very little to do with ethnicity.  If you are a student of the game, you can figure out the ethnicities and nationalities of the people involved.  For example, many of the accomplices are American stock promoters with American citizenship.  There are also Canadians involved with the American-listed (and Canadian-listed) scams.  It’s silly to discriminate based on race or nationality.  What you really want to do is:

1. Discriminate based on integrity and track records.  People who have committed fraud in the past will likely commit fraud in the future.
2. Look at areas that would be magnets for fraud.  Legally, there is no extradition treaty between China and the US/Canada.  This means that Chinese citizens can commit egregious frauds in American stock markets with virtually no consequences.  The reverse is also true.  A quick Google search for “EB-5 scam” will reveal various ways in which Americans scam Chinese nationals through the Immigrant Investor Program.

Notes on cable – Part 6 – Piracy

Piracy is going to get a lot better in the future.

1. Internet speeds will get faster due to Moore’s Law.
2. Open source software will get better as contributors keep adding code.

My belief is that many of the dynamics that played out for the music industry will play out for piracy.  Piracy itself is a form of competition.  Content companies will be forced to compete with their own content.  The companies that will fare best against piracy are the ones who can put together an offering that is more compelling than piracy (e.g. Netflix).

In the long run, I think that most of the industry will be dominated by a small handful of Internet TV services with big content libraries and excellent software.  Content companies will increasingly need to become good at software.  Usually software markets are dominated by a small handful of companies.  If that’s the case for Internet TV, then many of the traditional players will be losers.

Unusual risks at Ocwen

Unfortunately for me, the drama never seems to end at the Erbey complex (OCN/ASPS/HLSS/RESI/AAMC).  Ocwen’s regulatory problems has been cascading into other problems.  I suppose the lesson here is that some companies sit on very unusual risks.  When it rains it pours.

I believe Ocwen’s financing deal with HLSS exposes it to a very unusual risk.  Ocwen had (more or less) sold excess servicing rights on its MSRs to HLSS.  If Ocwen loses its MSRs, then it has to compensate HLSS for HLSS’ loss.  The payment will be for the purchase price of the excess servicing rights adjusted for run-off at rates pre-determined in the contract between Ocwen and HLSS (8-K filing).

OCN, ASPS, NSM, and inflated fees

I made a mistake.  I did not figure out the game that Ocwen and Altisource are playing.  Ocwen seems to receive fees from Altisource that could be (mis)construed as kickbacks under its “Data Access and Services Agreement”.  These fees could be seen as a quid pro quo (“you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours”) for the big profits that Altisource formerly earned for lender placed insurance “brokerage”.