to be the primary characteristics of operating a data center. Long a
leader in helping organizations reduce the costs and risks associated
with information storage, protection and management, Iron Mountain
makes data center efficiency a natural part of its business.
tizing to digital archiving, we have continuously worked
not only to implement, but also expand on the technologies and efficiencies that we leverage for our day-to-day
operations. For example, through innovative design and
engineering, we’ve been able to extend the preservation of
permanent records from decades to over 2,000 years.”
Advantages of the Underground
The results of Iron Mountain’s labor are evident in the
company’s unique Pennsylvania facility, which lies 220 feet
below the ground, and comprises 145 acres of a 1,000-acre
abandoned ore mine.
According to Doughty, who has played a key role in the
development of what is affectionately referred to at Iron
Mountain as “The Underground,” the facility has played
host to a wide variety of documents since it began operating in 1951. These range from rare photographs owned
by Bill Gates, to all domestic patents maintained by the
U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. One of the company’s
key data centers is also housed here, securely storing both
customer and Iron Mountain data.
Such important documents found their way here largely
because the facility is unique in terms of its security, envi-
ronmental, thermodynamic and climate control attributes.
Those subterranean qualities are so remarkably complemen-
tary to the needs of data centers that it almost seems the two
were created as part of one incredible natural phenomenon.
