Prairie Bunkers Offers Powered Shell DataBunkers

prairiebunkers

Data center developer Prairie Bunkers announced that it will soon begin offering "powered shell" DataBunkers for the cloud computing, managed services and disaster recovery markets.  Previously the company was planning to develop and sell rack-ready Tier III data centers.

Prairie Bunkers also announced new power rates through an agreement with utility South Central Public Power District, which will provide power pricing of between 5 cents and 6 cents per kilowatt , depending upon the load factor.  South Central's power mix includes 30 percent carbon-free content from hydro, wind and nuclear sources.

Former Ammunition Storage Bunkers
The 750 acre Prairie Bunkers data center campus is located near Hastings, Nebraska and features 184 World War II naval amunition storage bunkers.  The Denver-to-Des Moines corridor has seen a lot of data center activity over the past decade from companies like Google, Yahoo, Microsoft,  and IBM.  The Prairie Bunkers Data Center Park is outside the zones for earthquake, floods, hurricanes, volcanoes, airport flight paths and major traffic routes.

"From inception, we have offered high location security, high site security and a low carbon footprint,"said Prairie Bunkers Chairman Gary Hultquist. "With today's announcements, we also offer large users the "powered shell" alternative and low initial capex by sharing our savings in construction costs from the reuse of the existing bunkers and the presence of the power substation and fiber optic lines which are adjacent to the bunkers and already in place."

A powered shell provides undeveloped space with the power and fiber connectivity already in place. This allows for easy expansion for companies with the capital to build the data center infrastructure themselves.

Individual DataBunkers are configured in 1 megawatt, 5,000 square foot modules. Pricing for the DataBunkers will be such that other developers can configure a secure campus of their own with multiple bunkers that is competitive with larger footprint sites. If a larger footprint is desired, adjacent bunkers can be connected with new construction.

Included with each powered shell is 1.5 acres of land, an above-ground bunker with 5,000 square feet of internal floor space, loading dock, 14 foot ceilings, and 12 inch reinforced concrete walls able to withstand F5 tornadoes. Multiple fiber providers are available and space for an optional in-ground geothermal cooling system, solar or wind installation.

Completed Design

As an additional-priced option Prairie Bunkers is offering a completed design for conversion of a powered shell bunker into a rack-ready, Tier II or Tier III, high-density, hot-aisle containment, LEED-certifiable data center.