Rogers Data Centres is opening the doors to its third Calgary-based data centre and second Tier III data centre in Canada, the firm announced Wednesday.
Dubbed Calgary_DC3, Rogers says the data centre can act as a host for any size of business. The 85,000 square foot facility offers private suite environments, distinguished solid walls and doors rather than the typical open cages seen in data centres. There’s also 40,000 square feet or raised floors, and 900 cabinets of tech infrastructure available to clients. Rogers will offer 24/7 real time monitoring and support with a client portal that allows self-service to manage data and visibility into its status.
Plus, if you are already set up in a data centre somewhere else and you want to move to this one, Rogers IT relocation service will haul your gear over there.
With the floods of last summer still fresh in the minds of Calgary’s businesses, disaster recovery has quickly become a priority in the area, says AJ Byers, president of Rogers Data Centres.
“Most companies talk about disaster recovery, but when it comes to budget time, they’re not making the investment they should,” he says. “With events like the Calgary flood, it shows everyone how natural disasters can have a negative impact on business.”
Alberta is also benefitting from a strong economy driven by the oil and gas sector, Byers says. Those companies keep their headquarters in Calgary, not Toronto, and are good customers to have in the data centre business.
“Oil and gas companies don’t scrimp and save on technology,” he says. “They understand technology is critical to getting the job done and they’re looking for quality.”
Recent Rogers acquisition Pivot Data Centres started building the new facility about a month before shaking hands to come under the wing of Rogers Data Centres. Byers ran Black Iron Data, which was also eventually acquired by Rogers.
Tier III is a certification awarded by the Uptime Institute and ensures customers they can expect 100 per cent up time from Rogers Data Centres, Byers says. “The certification side for us is all around customers having third party validation. The biggest problem with the data centre industry over the last few years is there’s been lots of claims, but those claims can’t be validated.”
Rogers is currently aiming to have data centres in Ottawa and Edmonton given Tier III certification in the next six to eight months. Its first Tier III facility is in Markham.
At Calgary_DC3, customers are also assured of compliance in SSAE 16, PCI, and HIPAA regulations.
The facility is open for business and is already onboarding new customers.
