UW–Madison Switches Data Center Service Provider: About $17 Million Transition to a Potawatomi-Owned Company
The University of Wisconsin–Madison in Madison, Dane County, Wisconsin, plans to move part of its data center services to Data Holdings, a company headquartered in Milwaukee, at a transition cost of about $17 million, funded by the university. The company is a subsidiary of Potawatomi Ventures, owned by the Forest County Potawatomi Community, and in 2013 it opened a two-story, 46,000-square-foot data center in Milwaukee, with customers spanning government, health care and hospitality. The UW System Board of Regents approved the change in August, because the university's contract with its current provider, US Signal, expires in early 2029 and a replacement was needed.
University Chief Financial Officer Rob Cramer told the Board that the new arrangement is intended to support research computing and provide backup capacity for administrative systems, with total costs over the next decade projected at about $60 million. Cramer said the new partnership will increase computing capacity and support more demanding research equipment such as liquid-cooling systems, and Board materials also noted that the added capacity could help the university pursue more research grants and contracts. The decision connects the university's research computing needs with a tribally owned local business, and is also seen as a step in which the university weighs local and tribal economies in its service procurement.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校巴斯科姆堂。图片：Richard Hurd from Green Bay, USA，CC BY 2.0，取自维基共享资源。
