VISI News
VISI to Build $18 Million World-Class Data Center in Duluth
MINNEAPOLIS, April 15 PRNewswire — VISI, a Minneapolis-based leader in managed hosting and connectivity services, announced today that it will build an $18-19 Million Tier III data center in Duluth to provide colocation and managed hosting services to the Duluth area.
The new Duluth data center will be an approximately 50,000 square foot facility with 10,000-15,000 square feet of raised floor space — enough for approximately 360 - 540 server cabinets. The facility will be built to Uptime Institute's Tier III standards and will be SAS 70 Type II compliant. The Duluth expansion is in addition to VISI's 14,000 square feet of data center raised floor space in the Twin Cities metro area.
"The City of Duluth met and exceeded our criteria for a data center location because of access to redundant telecommunication and electrical infrastructure, insulation from natural disaster and an educated workforce," says Mike Sowada, CEO of VISI. "This project has the potential to be a catalyst for the growth of the industrial technology sector in Duluth."
VISI will break ground on the new facility shortly with completion expected in the spring of 2009. This project will create over 75 positions through construction and other local purchasing. Once complete, the data center will create 10 new full-time jobs with additional positions being added with additional data center clients.
"We are very pleased that VISI is choosing to expand in Duluth and will bring these technological advancements to our community. This new facility will represent a significant investment in the information infrastructure available for companies doing business in our area," stated Don Ness, Mayor of Duluth. "This type of data center is a prerequisite for many businesses looking to relocate or expand — VISI's investment in Duluth will be a significant advantage in our ability to attract new jobs to our area."
Minnesota Power and Area Partnership for Economic Expansion (APEX) partnered to conduct research that illustrated the need for a regional data center. Local Duluth companies surveyed revealed a high level of interest in a Duluth data center. VISI is in negotiations with SMDC Health System to be an anchor tenant for their data center. SMDC will occupy over 2,000 square feet of the facility.
VISI is in the process of negotiating local contracts and plans to be operational in Duluth within 12 months.
About VISI:
Founded in 1994, VISI is Minnesota's largest locally-owned managed hosting and connectivity provider, offering managed hosting, colocation and Internet connectivity services. VISI serves more than 11,000 business and residential customers throughout Minnesota with products and services including world-class SAS 70 Type II data centers in St. Paul and Minneapolis. The company provides a full range of robust Web and application hosting services, first-rate Internet services and support, and personal, expert advice. To learn more about VISI, call 612-395-9000 or visit http://www.visi.com.
SOURCE VISI
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