Initial phase of one of nation’s top high-end data centers completed ahead of schedule; several firms using suite of services, including colocation, cloud services, storage and enterprise solutions
Starkville, Miss. (November 3, 2014) – C Spire marked the official opening today of its new $23 million world-class data center in northeast Mississippi. The award-winning center promises to boost regional business technology infrastructure and spur new investment and expansion opportunities.
The 23,800 square foot center, located on a 6.5 acre site at the sprawling Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park, is one of only 16 commercially available facilities in the U.S. with a Tier 3 or 4 rating, the highest in the industry based on data center certifications by the Uptime Institute.
Most of the centers in the two top-tier categories nationwide are owned and operated solely by large private businesses or government agencies and used only for internal operations. C Spire’s Tier 3-plus facility is the premiere data center in the Southeast with ample commercial space available for businesses and government agencies and the only one of its class and capability within 250 miles of its location.
“Our center is purpose-built with world-class solutions for the complex data, storage and cloud service needs of our customers,” said Brian Caraway, senior vice president of Enterprise Markets for C Spire. The center is built to withstand the most extreme weather conditions and natural disasters and is located in one of the lowest composite geo-risk zones in Mississippi. “Our customers can rest easy knowing their data is safe and secure and that business continuity is safeguarded.”
C Spire began site excavation, grading and foundation work last November and completed construction on the initial phase in less than 12 months. The construction project already has received top awards for its design and overall quality from the Alabama and Mississippi builders and contractors groups.
Local officials in Starkville and Oktibbeha County, who provided tax incentives to support the project, said the facility is the largest private sector development in the region’s history. “This significant private sector technology infrastructure investment by a great Mississippi company will help us build a strong economic future for this region,” said Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman.
Along with its location in a low-risk geographic zone, the center boasts direct access to C Spire’s ring-protected fiber optic network and is managed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year by the company’s locally-based, award-winning IT staff. C Spire has been named one of InformationWeek’s top technology innovators for three consecutive years and a top business analytics firm.
Other services C Spire offers at the center include colocation, managed hosting, computing, storage, disaster recovery, enterprise cloud services, network and connectivity. In addition, the center features the latest security infrastructure, complete disaster contingency plans, a C Spire solutions center and management office and conference room space for temporarily deployed client IT staff.
C Spire currently operates two other data centers in Mississippi – one in Ridgeland and the other in downtown Jackson. For more information about C Spire’s new data center plans, C Spire cloud services or C Spire Business Solutions, visit www.cspire.com/cloudservices.
About C Spire
C Spire is a diversified telecommunications and technology services company that provides world-class personal service and a superior comprehensive suite of customer-inspired wireless communications, high-speed Internet access and a range of other telecommunications products and services to consumers and businesses with a personal focus. This news release and other announcements are available at www.cspire.com/news. For more information about C Spire, visit www.cspire.com or follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/cspire or Twitter at www.twitter.com/cspire.