Nov, 2001 : USDCO Launches Underground Data Center in Former Mine

📅 November 26, 2001 - A Michigan-based technology company has built a new data center in a 100 year-old mine to host computer equipment 85 feet below the Earth's surface. Underground Secure Data Center Operations (usdco.com), a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based data center, launched its operations in an inactive gypsum mine, deep underground and secure from disasters, both natural and manmade.

USDCO says the facility has advantages over traditional data centers, suchas increased security, lower cost, scalability and ideal environmentalconditions. USDCO said its economic model works, despite the proliferationof data center providers, thanks largely to the natural qualities inherentin the mine.
With 750,000 square feet available, there is lots of space to be subdividedto accommodate the growth needs of clients. In addition, the data center hasan unlimited supply of naturally cool, 50-degree air, providing the idealtemperature and humidity for computer equipment with minimal HVAC cost.
"We are one of the most secure data centers in the country and unparalleledin terms of square footage, scalability and environmental control," saidIrvin Wolfson, USDCO partner. "Yet, while the physical and cost benefits ofbeing underground make us attractive, we have also invested heavily inhigh-speed connectivity and redundant power and fiber systems to ensure ouroperations are not just secure, but also state-of-the-art."
USDCO said it is initially focused on providing co-location services.Clients lease space for their own servers, while USDCO provides securefacilities, power and bandwidth. USDCO offers redundant power sources andmultiple high-speed Internet DS-3 connections through an OC-12 SONET ringlinked to outside connectivity providers through redundant fiber cables.Through its alliances, the company augments its core services to includedisaster recovery solutions, wireless connectivity and more.
Strategic partners like Analysts International, a national informationtechnology company, enable USDCO to offer technology solutions ranging fromsystem design and implementation to the sale of software and equipment. "Thedata center market is over-built with pricey Class A space or cut-rate ClassC space that lacks true redundancy, capacity or security," Wolfson said."The natural qualities of the mine allow us to offer the best of both worlds- premier services and security at highly competitive rates."
USDCO was established in Sept. 2000 when its founders realized the formergypsum mine offered optimal conditions for a data center. The mine, whichwas being used to store food and other cold-storage products, offeredsuperior environmental conditions for electronic equipment, almostinvulnerable security and was located between two power grids. The facilitybecame operational in July 2001.
Adam Couture, a Mass.-based analyst for Gartner Inc. said USDCO could finditself a niche serving businesses that want to reduce vulnerability to anyfuture attacks. A company fact sheet said that the mine would protect thedata center from a cruise missile explosion or plane crash. "Every companythat I've talked to all are going back and re-evaluating theirbusiness-continuity plans," Couture told Associated Press. "This doesn't sayeverybody's changing them, but everybody's going back and revisiting them inthe wake of what happened."