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Cheyenne, Wyo. Welcomes New Green House Data Center

Green House Chief Executive Officer Shawn Mills describes how swiftly the data center industry has grown, and how Wyoming helped it every step along the way.

Green House Data celebrated the grand opening of an expansion to its data center here on Wednesday afternoon.

Ground was broken for the 35,000-square-foot, $35 million facility last August. It is four times bigger than Green House's original center just next door.

At a ceremony to mark the building's grand opening, Green House Chief Executive Officer Shawn Mills described how swiftly the data center industry - and, by extension, his company - has grown and how Wyoming helped it every step along the way.

"It was just seven years ago that Green House Data was a glimmer in its founders' eyes," Mills said. "Today, we're very excited to say we count over 350 customers from around the world, including five countries and 26 states."

Mills credited Gov. Matt Mead, who was present for Wednesday's event, as a great supporter of both Green House and of the technology sector.

He also credited the Wyoming Business Council and Cheyenne LEADS with providing things like robust pre-existing infrastructure and renewable energy credits: The new data center is powered entirely by wind energy.

"It's really exciting to see this new industry start to burgeon here in Wyoming, and we're really excited to be a part of that reality," Mills said.

Mead also took to the podium to reflect on how the combined vision of his administration, the Legislature, local policymakers and individual entrepreneurs has helped to grow Wyoming's tech sector.

The governor cited other recent local developments, like a two-phase Microsoft data center and the National Center for Atmospheric Research's supercomputing center.

He then added that it's clear the tech sector is becoming aware of Wyoming's natural and economic advantages and that those advantages are real and paying off.

"Recognizing what Wyoming has and what Wyoming can be, that gets us there," Mead said. "It is more than a vision now; it is a reality.

"As much as we've seen in four years, where we've gone from 'what's a petaflop?' to this grand opening today, we've just touched the tip of the iceberg. We can do so much more."

Mead also announced the state will be the first customer of the new data center, having acquired 56 racks for computing equipment and servers.

"The state is so pleased to have these," Mead said. "It's a great asset for the state, especially as we look at expanding what we can do here."

And the state government can rest assured that its data will be about as safe as it can get.

Art Salazar is Green House's director for data center facilities and compliance. He said the new data center includes a number of state-of-the-art security measures, from standard PIN codes and magnetic card recognition systems to biometric fingerprint access and redundancy for every system.

"Some companies are literally making tons of money per minute, and if they're down for just an hour, that's very costly to these companies doing Internet business and things of that nature," Salazar said.

"That's what data centers are all about, that 100 percent uptime. You can lose part of your heating, part of your cooling, part of your air conditioning, part of your carriers, your circuits, and you still remain up and running."

The server rooms even have special flooring to minimize static discharge. There also is a VESDA system, short for "very early smoke detection apparatus," meant to find and alert staff to the presence of overheating equipment before it starts smoking.

Green House Marketing director Wendy Fox said the center employs 41 people, the bulk from Wyoming.

As more customers come online and additional support staff are needed, she said the new center could house up to 100 with potential for even further development in the future.

"The state of Wyoming has been an excellent partner to us because it has helped to architect a business climate that's really suitable for data centers," Fox said.

"There's no corporate income tax, you can get these discounts, and you can tell they want us here."

©2014 Wyoming Tribune-Eagle (Cheyenne, Wyo.)