The mention of essential employees during a pandemic usually brings to mind doctors, nurses, grocery store clerks, truck drivers, and first responders to name a few. But there are lesser-known, unsung heroes in the data center industry – those who support the infrastructure needed to keep us connected as we shift almost exclusively to working, learning, and playing online.
DataBank, a leading provider of enterprise-class data centers, connectivity, and managed services, was designated early on as a “National Critical Function” (NCF). Meaning, they are “so vital to the United States that their disruption, corruption, or dysfunction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, national public health or safety, or any combination thereof.”
No pressure! Keeping us all connected is no small feat, especially when so much depends on those few deemed essential staff. One way DataBank is showing gratitude to these unsung heroes of the data center world is by highlighting some of the hard-working members of their team who, while taking the utmost precautions, are working tirelessly and fearlessly to keep us online.
We are a 24x7x365 operation here, so have always had staff on-site around the clock. As of late, I have seen everyone going the extra mile to support each other and ensuring our clients are taken care of. We work as a team. I didn’t realize how often I shook hands with people until this happened and it can’t be done anymore. This crisis has shown us there will be a new way of doing business moving forward utilizing internet, cloud, and managed services such as IaaS. Client satisfaction during this time is very important to us. During this crisis, DataBank has been very supportive of its data center staff. I am proud to be a ‘DataBanker’. – Nic Forcum, Lead Data Center Technician, Kansas City
We’ve seen an uptick in cross connect requests across our data centers. Our customers may want to connect to a carrier for added service, for example. Everyone is experiencing higher levels of bandwidth usage. We are running two to three new cross connects a week per site, with customers wanting them expedited as quickly as possible. – Brandon Heslop, Lead Data Center Supervisor, Salt Lake City
To read the full story, visit the DataBank blog.
