EchoStar Picks Cheyenne for Data Center

EchoStar Broadcasting Corp. has picked Cheyenne, Wyoming to be the site of a 77,000-square-foot data center. The multimillion-dollar facility, expected to be completed by end of 2011, will be located adjacent to EchoStar's existing satellite uplink and broadcast facility in the Cheyenne Business Park, just east of Cheyenne.

EchoStar Broadcasting is a subsidiary of EchoStar Corp (SATS). The broadcasting company will use the data center for internal supercomputing, data storage and archiving. EchoStar will also provide colocation to third-party customers, including DISH Network LLC, one of its largest customers. The colocation space will feature Tier III infrastructure for its power and cooling, and support high density rack-mount solutions.

"After visiting and reviewing more than 50 sites across the country, we chose Cheyenne due to our strong ties to the community, a business-friendly tax environment, reasonably priced power, and the availability of a professional work force," said Jeff McSchooler, senior vice president of EchoStar Broadcasting Corp.

A Win for Wyoming
The state of Wyoming has been actively pursuing data center projects. The state’s economic development team has attended major industry conferences for several years, highlighting Wyoming as a destination for data center development. Cheyenne will also be home to a new data center that will house the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center, which scientists will use to accelerate research into climate change

The data center will initially add about a dozen new IT professional positions to EchoStar's staff, which numbers more than 360 in Cheyenne at the company's 24/7 broadcast center. The center is one of the largest providers of video channels in the world, and tracks and controls more than a dozen communications satellites. 

The Cheyenne uplink facility was built in 1994 to support the launch of DISH Network, one of the fastest growing satellite TV services. Today, it delivers uplink services for a variety of commercial and government customers.