As the data center industry grows, it gets trickier to find ample space to house new facilities or provide companies with room to expand.  Interestingly enough, underground locations are a viable option, since a lot of abandoned mines and military bunkers meet necessary criteria.  Some underground locations were even built so that reuse would be easy.  Directors of these facilities note that people tend to imagine the data centers to be dark, drippy holes in the ground, but this is definitely not accurate.

Although anyone with data storage needs might enjoy having such an interesting, high-security facility, so far, underground data centers are especially appealing to high-security organizations like the government.  They are extremely well-protected in the event of disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, and fires, as well as potential terrorist attacks.

Although there are a few issues with some of the underground data centers, like that some of them are in very rural areas, other problems one would imagine to exist, in reality, are not serious obstacles.  Water is kept out easily enough, and can even be used for cooling.  Limestone mines tend to be dry anyway.  The main benefits are the amazing security, and the high amount of readily available space.

It all sounds like a lot of fun to move into, and data center migrations are what we're all about.

Check out this article for a more in-depth look.

photo by aliwest44 under flickr creative commons license

-Elizabeth English