Linode announces new datacenter location, Japan

This is a huge win for anyone hosting data that falls under Japan's very strict privacy and data export restrictions, and shows Linode is definitely competing for space in the professional hosting market.<p>Most providers offer a Japan hosting solution as the second facility in the APAC region after opening in Singapore or Hong Kong. Sing/HK is used for the bulk of the hosting business so typically the first offered but a Japan presence is next up, regardless of size, to offer a complete global solution for customers who handle data that must be within the Japanese borders in-place.

Cool, I can't say enough good things about Linode. I've been using it with great results. I have gotten some random reboots though, but I'm using the basic plan and it hasn't been bad at all for the price.

This is very forwards-looking, if only because it improves access from China and "the growing Asia Pacific demand for low-latency cloud services".

I know there are a lot linode users here but is it really Hacker NEWS suitable? I'm not saying that I don't want to see some of the cool/interesting stuff they do, but this isn't it.<p>If there was a HN post every time a provider launched a new PoP we'd be swamped.<p>Disclosure: I work in the hosting industry.

While this is a big deal for anyone hosting data in Japan, I question why it had to be in Tokyo.<p>The earthquake in March suggest that it might be prudent to have data retention in other areas of the country.<p>While Tokyo is a big city and that comes with pluses for access, it has the following minuses:<p>1. real estate is expensive relative to the rest of Japan.<p>2. summer is hot - why have data centers in Tokyo and not up in the mountains or up north where it's cooler?<p>3. the Greater Tokyo area is due for a major earthquake. In addition, there's historical data dating back centuries showing that a big quake in one area is followed by big quakes in other areas of the country (although fingers crossed that we don't see a 9.0 quake).<p>There has been a lot of press over the past few months about companies in Japan putting effort into backup facilities that aren't in the Tokyo area. After the quake in March there were blackouts and a reasonable amount of chaos - just imagine what it would be like if the Tokyo quake actually occurs.

This is such a big deal. Congrats guys.

I live in Tokyo, and have been wanting this for years. Finally!

FWIW and YMMV<p>To Japan from HK 9 hops. Latency ~75ms. Bandwidth ~ 2.2MB/sec.<p>To Fremont from HK 14 hope, Latency ~155ms. Bandwidth ~ 1.1MB/sec

I've been using Linode for a while now, and I am very pleased to watch them grow like this. Great job!

On a related note, does anybody know of a good vps provider for serving sites to India?