High-Security, High-Capacity Data Center Proposed In Natick
Boston-based Caisson Data Center Services hopes to install a multimillion-dollar, 117,000-square-foot data center at a vacant retail location on Route 9 in Natick, directly across the street from the Natick Collection.
The company has received permits to site the data center on the eight-acre parcel, which was once home to a Sam's Club, and is finalizing financing for the project.
The center is expected to be in operation by the third quarter of 2012, according to Karl Robohm, managing partner at Cassion. The first phase of the project to come online will total 16,500 square feet, he added.
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Robohm wants to build not just a data center, but a high-end data center.
Data centers are ranked on a four-point scale. A Tier 1 facility is a basic storage unit while a Tier 4 facility meets government-level security storage requirements, Robohm said. Cassion's Natick data center will be a Tier-3 building.
"We're going to build a datacenter in the region that the market doesn't have right now," Robohm said.
He said there may be one or two other Tier-3 data centers in Massachusetts, but they are either full or almost full. Most other data centers in the state have a lower tier status.
With the Tier 3 facility, the company is hoping to attract some big-name clients to store their data and operations at the site. Caisson is targeting major health care, financial and technology companies that are looking for high-capacity storage space.
Jake Lyons, vice president of sales for Cassion, explained that regulatory compliance requires some companies to store data and operation systems away from their main location as a backup in case of disaster.
That makes Natick an ideal location, he said. It is far enough away from Boston - about 25 miles - to satisfy regulators, but is close enough for businesses to easily access the data.
Cassion officials are hoping the data center's features will attract customers from outside the region, potentially even big-ticket clients in New York City seeking affordable data storage options.
While many data centers offer businesses around 50 watts per square foot of power, Robohm said the Natick location will offer customers about 150 watts per square foot, with capacity to more than 350 watts per square foot.
Part of the reason there are not more Tier-3 data centers in Massachusetts is because power costs here can be higher compared to other parts of the country.
But Cassion is compensating for that in a couple of ways. First of all, because of the high-power capacities the site is offering, it is qualifying for discounts from the utility company, NStar. Robohm estimates Cassion is getting between $600,000 and $800,000 in rebates because the company will be using so much power at the site.
The company is also hoping to take advantage of the Bay State's cold weather. Areas with cold winters can be an advantage because they get "free cooling days," as Robohm referred to them.
Still, because of some difficulties in building data centers in Massachusetts, Robohm said it is an underserved area. And they hope that translates into lots of market potential.
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