Data center construction 'on schedule'
Construction on the new data center for the university has been going on for nearly a month, and everything is running according to schedule.
According to a February Central Michigan Life article, the new building, approved by the Central Michigan University Board of Trustees in December, will be located between the Combined Services Building and the Engineering and Technology Building. The cost is not to exceed $5.4 million.
Steve Lawrence, vice president of Facilities Management said since July, the plan has been to issue primary construction contracts.
“The work to date has focused on relocating underground utilities to make way for the new building,” Lawrence said.
The data center is currently located in Foust Hall. Lawrence said the estimated date of completion for the new building is June 2013, and all equipment will be moved out of the old building at that time.
Roger Rehm, vice president of Information Technology, said Foust Hall is not an ideal location for the amount of equipment needed in the data center.
“The current space is not designed to be a data center. It is poorly designed for both electrical and climate control systems and has too much vulnerability to water damage," Rehm told CM Life in February. “(The new building) will be situated at a higher elevation than the present facility. It is designed to provide better and highly flexible power and climate control systems.”
One of its main purposes will be to store the equipment, hold servers and house a large electrical service room with a backup generator for the university.
“The data center houses computer networking for the university, but right now they are positioning some of the utility lines," Rehm said.
The data center will only require one employee inside for preservation.
“It’s really just a utility building; people will only go in there for maintenance,” Lawrence said.
The location for the new data center was chosen in case an addition was needed in the future.
