Online Tech continues its data center build-out in the Metro Detroit area. The new data center, formerly a Sprint-Nextel facility will expand Online Tech’s total Michigan footprint to 100,000 gross square feet. The firm’s $10M renovation of the Westland, MI site will create a 34,000 square foot facility with 18,000 square feet of raised floor space with a total IT load capacity of 1.2 MW. The Metro Detroit data center will feature fiber connectivity to eight different telecommunications providers. The firm will add 15 new jobs in the data center over the next five years to run the facility according to Whir.
The firm operates three other Michigan data centers, two in Ann Arbor and one in Flint. The new facility will bring its total data center footprint to 100,000 square feet. It is the market leader in the Detroit Metro with the top market share in multi-tenant data center space in Michigan, according to 451 Research. Yan Ness, co-CEO of Online Tech called the new data center a milestone for the firm.
This new facility is a major milestone for Online Tech because it is our fourth data center and it brings us to an overall total of 100,000 square feet of gross data center space. This facility will allow us to serve the large Detroit market, where we see strong demand for the secure, compliant cloud and hosting services
Mike Klein, co-CEO of Online Tech explained to Whir that the firm’s advantage is it focus on compliance.
Our data centers deliver secure colocation and cloud hosting services to clients whose IT operations must comply with regulations like HIPAA, PCI, and Sarbanes-Oxley. Our data centers, including the new Metro Detroit Data Center, reflect our commitment to protecting our clients and their sensitive data
In anticipation of further growth, the firm expanded its Ann Arbor headquarters in September 2013 to meet its rapid growth after doubling its employee count to nearly 50 over the past 18 months.
In October 2011 the company opened a 20,000 square foot data center with 10,000 square feet of raised floor in the Avis Farms complex minutes away from Online Tech’s headquarters and original data center in Ann Arbor. The Tier 3 data center has a fully redundant power and network infrastructure to maintain availability for colocation, managed server, and cloud computing hosting business according to reports.
Online Tech invested more than $1 million in upgrades and expansion to its Flint, MI data center during August 2011. The 2011 update enabled 1 megawatt of power to the Flint data center floor. Whir says the Flint site was built in 1986 as a disaster recovery center for General Motors (GM). Online Tech took over the facility in 2005 with its acquisition of Gentech. Separated by more than 50 miles, the Flint data center is on a separate electrical grid to provide clients with production and disaster recovery data centers in Michigan.
Online Tech has plans to grow beyond metro Detroit. Co-CEO Ness told Whir,
… our growth won’t stop there We see similar opportunities for us in other markets in the Great Lakes region and the Midwest, and we expect to continue our growth strategy by expanding our portfolio of data centers into other cities in the near future.
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Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.