Data Centers: Space. Power. Connectivity.

They’re the essential triumvirate, the troika of high-tech, if you will.

The three convergent elements of technology — space, power and connectivity — are the three crucial elements in running a data center.

And South Bend has them in spades.

“Regardless of the specific configuration, you’re always going to need those three things,” says Kevin Smith, founder and president of Global Access Point. “They are the three things that we have ample amounts of.”

Global Access Point’s Digital Enterprise Center

Paving the way: Global Access Point
Union Station, 506 W. South St.
Digital Enterprise Center, 6561 Lonewolf Drive

If anyone should know about space, power and connectivity in South Bend, it’s Smith. He and his ever-expanding vision of high-tech computing have largely shaped the local telecommunications landscape, adjusting the infrastructure, adapting old structures for new uses, challenging rigid mindsets to think outside the box.

As Smith’s business enterprises evolved through several phases of technological progress, his increasing demands for connectivity led him to transform the historic Union Station into a state-of-the-art hub for digital information, and to create the potential for another high-tech data center in the Blackthorn Corporate Park. In the process, he created an ideal geographic location for a variety of high-tech businesses to locate here.

Smith also was a key advisor in the development of the St. Joe Valley Metronet, which provides affordable high-speed data connectivity for area businesses, and has paved the way for other data centers to locate here.

Colostore
1805 S. Michigan St.
746 Arnold Street

Jay Kramer, president of Colostore

Colostore manages two data center locations in South Bend, providing IT management and support to a range of business clients that provide online services to their customers.

“We have been in business for 15 years now,” says Jay Kramer, president of Colostore (and, coincidentally, the newly elected mayor of Vero Beach, Fla). The company began by offering e-mail services, then added web hosting and eventually “got ourselves into building our own data center.

“Otherwise, we would have had to lease the space,” he says. “When we put pencil to paper, we realized it would be more cost-effective for us to build our own. So we asked the obvious question: Where would you build a data center? When we looked around at nearby cities, we saw that South Bend was right on the rail tracks. It had plenty of carrier diversity. Real estate and power were cost-efficient. So South Bend can offer all the major expenses that are involved in building a data center at competitive prices.”

Many of Colostore’s clients provide web-hosting services for online gaming, a market that is rapidly growing. Other clients offer video hosting, voiceover IP, and search engine optimization services. “There’s a lot of diversity,” he says. “Our main goal is stability. With our clientele, we have to make sure that nothing happens to interrupt the continuity.”

Because of its international focus, Colostore could have established successful data centers elsewhere.

“But when you consider all the elements that make a data center successful, South Bend addresses them very well,” he says. “With Metronet, South Bend is definitely on the right track. In doing the fiber work, it’s taking one of the biggest hurdles and bringing the cost way down. That really helps to make sure all businesses can leverage the opportunity and have a chance to grow.

“I’ve always thought there should be more large data centers coming to South Bend,” he muses. “That will increase the volume of the type of services available and make all of us even more competitive.

“The more, the better.”

Editor’s note: In addition to the data centers featured in this issue, Cincinnati Bell/CBTS also operates two data centers in South Bend.