Venyu Blog

The National Security Agency announced it is building a new $1.2B datacenter. To be located 25 miles south of Salt Lake City, UT where it will serve as a locus to collect and analyze intelligence data, the datacenter itself is reputed to be part of our country’s National Cyber-security Initiative.

Among the revelations:

• The complex will occupy 1.5 million square feet of building space spanning 200 acres
• The 30-megawatt datacenter will be cooled by chilled water
• The complex will be capable of Tier 3, or near carrier-grade reliability
• The site will be fully equipped to be self-sustaining including its own water and wastewater treatment plants, power, gas supply, battery backup and perimeter security
• The actual building, which will take 3 years to complete and require between 5,000 and 10,000 workers during construction, will eventually employ between 100 and 200 workers

NSA will be the lead agency at the datacenter but will also be used by the Department of Homeland Security. Significantly, the NSA has a datacenter presence in Fort Meade, Maryland.

Now, I’ll grant you that given its national security profile all of this investment in infrastructure and personnel seems reasonable. But I think the key take-away for our SMB and mid-market customers is this: Whether you’re backing up cyber data developed to protect our borders or mission-critical, confidential data indispensable to the continued health and well-being of your organization, making even a modest investment in a reliable backup and recovery solution takes care of that “just in case” moment when your data could all suddenly go away. And never come back.

It’s just that important.