Welcome to The Data Center Project (DCP) – part of the Learn To Homelab (LTH) Community! We’re excited to have you here. DCP is proudly operated under the LTH umbrella, which was founded by Abe Peterson on YouTube in 2024 (YouTube) (Our Website). Thanks to rapid support from the homelab community, both the channel and the LTH team have grown quickly, allowing us to launch innovative projects like DCP.

About Our Founder

Abe Peterson is a Marine Corps Veteran, tech enthusiast, privacy advocate, and dedicated cybersecurity professional. He holds a Bachelor’s in Cybersecurity from GCU and a Master’s from WGU. Abe’s passion for teaching and genuine drive to support others inspired him to launch the DCP. The goal: empower users like you to enjoy enhanced privacy and affordable access to hosting solutions in the public internet space.

What is The Data Center Project (DCP)?

DCP is a community-driven, cost-sharing organization where major decisions are guided by member votes. Think employee ownership—with true community influence.

Community Funded
Our project is truly built by and for our community. Donations, financial support, and even physical hardware contributions are invested based on your priorities. We’re developing facilities that serve users—not profits—with a strong focus on affordable and non-traditional colocation. For example, we’re offering colocation spaces for 10-inch form factors, making it possible to send us devices like Raspberry Pi boards or mini PCs to host.

Cost Sharing
Operating costs are transparently divided among all users. While LTH fronts the initial investment, the plan is for operating expenses to be split fairly as the user base grows. For example, if a facility could serve 10,000 users, those users share the operational costs, which keeps pricing low and sustainable. Any service markup (for maintenance and growth) is stated up front—if costs go up or down, members see that reflected in their bills.

Transparent Billing
We never raise prices without a clear, honest reason directly related to our operating costs. As the community grows, your monthly expenses could actually decrease—while you always see exactly where your money goes.

Community Voting
While customers aren’t owners of the DCP, every community member gets a real say in major decisions. You’ll regularly vote on new features, hardware upgrades, or development priorities. For example, if there’s demand for servers with more RAM or new automation features, community members decide together how we invest project profits.

Key Advantages

1. No long-term contracts or hidden cost increases—just open, community-set pricing.
2. Innovative, non-traditional colocation options—including small-form hardware like Raspberry Pi.
3. You control your hardware and software—retain ownership and flexibility.
4. Full access to the public internet hosting space—just like at a traditional data center.
5. Truly affordable pricing—with a clear, fixed markup (typically 25%) for facility maintenance and overhead, always disclosed and adjusted transparently alongside operating costs.
6. Genuine community voice—member voting shapes how the DCP evolves and grows.
7. Privacy-first ethos—run by professionals dedicated to secure, private, user-centric networking.

If you have questions or feedback, please reach out! We look forward to building the next generation of community-driven data center solutions—with you.