Grand Rapids’ US Signal, a data center services provider, opened its new data center in Van Buren Township on March 1. The center was built to Tier 3 standards.
The center will help US Signal keep pace with the adoption of cloud-first, hybrid, and off-premises data center strategies, all of which require colocation space. US Signal’s most recent IT Resiliency Survey found that these strategies are critical to the survival of today’s organizations. The survey found that less than a quarter of IT professionals have preparations in place to deal with a disruptive event such as a malware attack or loss of power.
The new center and the seven existing facilities offer options for ensuring reliability and recoverability of systems. It also has security measures in place as well as storm and emergency response preparedness plans in place.
It also will use US Signal’s Cloud Pod, which will enable private and multi-tenant cloud hosting. The Cloud Pods will be rolled out across additional data centers this year.
“US Signal has experienced an incredible increase in demand for off-premises services and hybrid cloud solution, both in Michigan and across the region,” says Dave Wisz, executive vice president of operations. “This validates our decision to strengthen our local capabilities with edge data center locations as neighboring businesses continue to thrive and seek off-premises solutions and regional IT resources. It also speaks of our determination to remain the local data center services provider of choice in Michigan, but this data center will also play a key role in supporting our nationwide clients with even greater geographic diversity and colocation choices. In the end, everyone will benefit.”
The increased need for the solutions were validated in US Signal’s 2020 State of Data Center Offerings survey. The study consisted of data from 110 U.S.-based IT decision makers and revealed that security and compliance, backup and disaster recovery, and network availability were the top factors for the majority of surveyed companies when choosing a third-party edge data center provider. Cost was also a key consideration, and 91 percent of respondents said they are likely to select a data center provider located close to their users.
US Signal provides data center services including connectivity, cloud hosting, colocation, data protection, and disaster recovery solutions, all powered by its fiber network.
