Cobalt, a data center company formed by Mike Ballard, former CFO at Switch – operator of a massive Las Vegas colocation facility – is planning to build a 60,000 sq ft data center in close proximity to the Switch campus.

Needless to say, Switch leadership are not happy. They expressed their discontent in the form of a lawsuit against Ballard, accusing him of having "misappropriated Switch's trade secrets or other confidential, proprietary information, including financial and design plans" to build the competing data center, according to court documents.

In the announcement of Cobalt's formation, Ballard, the new company's CEO, said it had assembled one of the best data center parcels in the country because of the abundance of fiber connectivity there.

"Coupled with the next generation technology we will incorporate into the project, Cobalt Sahara will be the most advanced and energy efficient colocation and Cloud computing facility in Nevada."

Both Switch's data center and Cobalt's site are located in the "Telco Row", an area rich with long-haul carrier fiber. Cobalt said more than 15 national carriers'networks "curbed" its new property, where it plans to build a 10MW data center.

Ballard served as CFO at Switch between 2003 and 2006. No final judgment has been issued in the company's lawsuit against him.