DCN completes Tier III Great Plains Data Center expansion

DCN (Dakota Carrier Network) today announced it has completed a 13,280 square-foot data center expansion at its Great Plains Data Center in Fargo. The addition more than doubles DCN’s Fargo footprint and increases its server floor space by six times.

Business leaders and representatives from Sen. John Hoeven and Rep. Kevin Cramer’s offices joined DCN owner companies and ambassadors from the Fargo Moorhead West Fargo Chamber of Commerce for a ribbon cutting at the newly opened facility, which included tours of the state-of-the-art data storage space.

“This expansion represents the success and growth of the North Dakota businesses we serve, and we’re looking forward to welcoming new and existing co-location tenants into the space as well as cloud services customers,” said DCN CEO Seth Arndorfer. “We’re proud to provide local, industry-leading technology solutions for businesses, and our Great Plains Data Center expansion really captures our commitment to continuing to be the premier provider in our state.”

DCN broke ground on the more than 13,000 square-foot expansion in October 2017 in response to the growing demand for secure data storage space. The expansion has been constructed with the same industry-leading specifications as DCN’s existing Great Plains Data Center in Fargo and Coleman Data Center in Bismarck.

Fargo-based Border States Electric is an anchor tenant of the new data center. “The complexity of designing and maintaining a redundant data center built to withstand all of the natural and cyber threats that exist in our world today is not cost effective, even for large companies like ours,” said Ryan Stall, senior vice president Strategy Enablement & IT at Border States Electric. “When we weighed the pros and cons, it was clear that co-location offered the most secure, efficient and economical solution to meet our data center needs.”

DCN’s data centers are Tier III, carrier-grade hardened facilities able to withstand F4 tornadoes with winds up to 200 mph and feature N+1 redundant power and cooling systems. The facilities are also equipped with state-of-the-art security, including biometric fingerprint scanners, personalized combination locking cabinets, and 24/7 monitoring with a closed caption TV video surveillance system. The Great Plains Data Center expansion also features a one-person mantrap, providing an additional security layer to ensure each entrant is verified to enter the space.