 | (Cedar Falls, Iowa) The term “disaster recovery” is common in the data center industry, but it took on new meaning during the Flood of 2008 for Iowa-based TEAM Technologies. The term refers to saving critical data by executing a plan which includes co-location of data with proper connectivity. TEAM Technologies, which owns a data center in Cedar Falls, Iowa, guided many businesses affected in Iowa’s recent floods through the disaster recovery process as the high water threatened storage and connectivity for companies’ data in some locations. |
Hyperstream
TEAM Company’s Mark Kittrell is interviewed as part of Technology Association of Iowa’s efforts to get high school students interested in information technology. Click here to watch the video.
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Written by Kate Miller
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Monday, 28 July 2008 18:00 |
DES MOINES -- Iowa Health System, the state’s first and largest integrated health system, and TEAM Technologies, an information technology data center company based in Cedar Falls, Iowa, plan to jointly develop a new enterprise data center in the Des Moines metro area.
“The two parties are working to finalize an agreement,” said Mark Kittrell, vice president of business development for TEAM Technologies. The plan means TEAM will store the data for all of Iowa Health System’s patient and employee records. Iowa Health System employs more than 19,000 workers throughout the state and treats one out of every four Iowans requiring medical care. Last year, Iowa Health System’s hospitals and clinics managed more than 1.8 million patient visits.
The critical patient and employee information will be stored in both the new center in the Des Moines metro area and one of TEAM’s other data centers located in Cedar Falls. “Between the two, we will provide secure, redundant systems for Iowa Health so all of their records are safe,” Kittrell said. “The agreement we’re finalizing means Iowa Health System will have two copies of everything, 100 miles apart. TEAM employs proven methods of securing power and Internet connectivity redundancy so its customers’ data is secure at all times. “We’re making sure they have duplicates of everything.”
Iowa Health System President and CEO William B. Leaver said Iowa Health System and TEAM Technologies have had a multi-year relationship that has served its employees and patients well. “When we’re dealing with millions of records every year that contain confidential and critical information, it requires the utmost care and expertise,” Leaver said. “Iowa Health System and TEAM Technologies thoroughly and completely understand the responsibility associated with maintaining and managing this data. We don’t take that lightly and never will.”
The agreement calls for Iowa Health System and TEAM to own the new data center together as TEAM Des Moines Partners LLC. The facility would be built in Waukee, a suburb of Des Moines, on Alice’s Road north of Hickman Road. The Waukee City Council approved a site plan for the project last week. “We appreciate the confidence Waukee leaders have in Iowa Health System and in TEAM Technologies,” Leaver said. “A large project such as this requires support on many fronts. We pledge to Waukee and the Greater Des Moines area to be outstanding community partners as we develop this venture.”
Mark Kittrell added, “TEAM is extraordinarily happy to work with Iowa’s largest health-care provider to enhance the safety and security of the system’s health-care information.”
TEAM has been providing data center services for Iowa Health System in the TEAM Cedar Falls facility for three years. The TEAM Des Moines Partners data center in Waukee will be built in three phases and total 46,000 square feet when completed. The first phase will total 16,000 square feet with a capital investment of $14 million. Iowa Health System will use half of the data center space developed in the first phase. The other half will be used by TEAM’s other customers. The center would employ 11 people earning salaries between $40,000 and $100,000.
On July 21, the Waukee City Council approved a proposed site plan for the data center. Waukee Mayor Bill Peard said the city is thrilled to work with a company that has the potential to bring Iowa’s technology boom to his community. Google announced a large data center project for Council Bluffs last year. This month, Microsoft also announced it would locate a data center in the Des Moines metro area. The TEAM project would be smaller, but technology experts in the state say it points to Iowa’s strength in retaining and attracting high-tech companies.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 08 August 2008 10:09 )
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