On National Iowa Day (February 8th), ITS is celebrating the natural gifts Iowa boasts that make it one of the best locations for a data center in the U.S. Our data center location isn’t just by coincidence– it’s strategic. Our strategic reasons are the same reasons that top technology companies like Google, Microsoft, and Facebook choose to build data centers in Iowa.
Iowa is ranked as low risk for a natural disaster. Disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes and events that could cause damage and/or widespread outages are few and far between. While disasters like floods and tornadoes pose the most serious risk to a data center in Iowa, we have taken steps to avoid damage from these events from happening. Our data center is built into a hill at an elevation that is safe from even extreme flooding. Three out of the four walls of our facility are surrounded by earth with only our loading dock exposed. The exposed loading dock features double walls for extra protection and all of the walls and ceiling of the data center are constructed with 12-inch thick reinforced concrete. With these measures in place, our data center is sufficiently protected from the most common natural disasters that Iowa experiences.
But the lack of natural disasters that Iowa experiences isn’t the only reason that makes Iowa a great location for a data center. 42% of the energy generated in Iowa comes from the wind. For companies with green initiatives such as ourselves, this is a huge benefit. Iowa also has a cool climate which helps cut costs to cool warm server racks, making our equipment use less energy, cost less to maintain, and therefore lowers costs of our services for customers. It’s these reasons that make Iowa (or as we like to call it, the “Silicon Prairie”) one of the best locations in the nation for a data center.