DC Blox building $13 million Alabama data centre
Wed 31 Jan 2018
U.S. edge data centre and network services firm DC Blox has announced plans to build a $13 million (approx. £9.2 million), five-acre data centre campus in Huntsville, Alabama.
The facility, which DC Blox states will provide mission-critical infrastructure for manufacturing, defence related contractors, high-tech, education and healthcare businesses, will deliver 10MW of power.
As well as the Huntsville facility, the firm is carrying out an expansion project in the U.S. Southeast and is looking to build in underserved markets. As such, it intends on adding four more interconnected edge data centres across the region by the end of the year.
The sites will be connected with high speed, high capacity optical networks, in order to serve the ever-increasing volume and movement of data across systems and physical geography.
“Huntsville, Alabama represents a perfect location for our next data centre and aligns well with our strategy of delivering highly available data centre and network services to Edge markets,” said Jeff Uphues, DC Blox CEO.
“The design, build and operation of this data centre will accommodate clients who must manage and protect confidential unclassified and classified information which are a critical segment of the Huntsville economy.”
Matching the rest of the firm’s portfolio, which contains sites in Atlanta, Georgia and Chattanooga, Tennessee, the new site will offer colocation, carrier-grade network services, cloud and cloud integration services. It expects the first phase of the facility to be online by this summer.
Located near Redstone Arsenal and the Marshall Space Flight Center, local officials noted the area’s technological background and welcomed the new facility. Lucia Cape, senior vice president of economic development for the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber, said: “We are excited to welcome DC BLOX to Huntsville. Technology drives our economy, and data centres enable technology and innovation. The DC Blox investment will improve our infrastructure and help us attract new companies and jobs to the region.”
Huntsville Mayor Thomas M. Battle Jr added: “Huntsville is one of America’s fastest-growing tech cities, seeing year-over-year tech job growth. DC BLOX is an excellent addition to our city. We are known for innovation, and having a data centre that’s capable of keeping up with the demands of new technologies and trends puts us even further at the forefront.”
