Server Farm to Crunch Data for Billionaire Inventor

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The exterior of the Server Farm Realty data center in Santa Clara, Calif., one of five data centers the company operates. (Photo: Server Farm Realty)

Billionaire Patrick Soon-Shiong and his technology firm, Nantworks, is teaming with developer Server Farm Realty in a partnership that will use data center capacity to store and analyze massive amounts of data.

Soon-Shiong, a surgeon and inventor, has built and sold two successful pharmaceutical firms, Abraxis BioScience and American Pharmaceutical Partners, accumulating a personal wealth estmated at more than $7 billion. In 2011 he founded Nantworks with a broad agenda to harness advanced technology to revolutionize modern life, with a particular focus on health care. Nantworks' initiatives will require computer analysis of large datasets, which could yield insights into many of its focus areas.

“One of the great challenges of our time is the management, storage and analysis of the kind of massive data sets required by genomic medicine or augmented intelligence,” said Soon-Shiong. “NantWorks is addressing that challenge and Server Farm is a vital part of our solution.”

Server Farm Realty currently has five data center projects located in Los Angeles, Chicago, Santa Clara, Calif. and Pennsylvania, with a potential 160 megawatts of power capacity. The announcement provided few details on the partnership between Server Farm and NantWorks, saying only that the firms will "bring their considerable financial strength to a capital intensive industry with a long term vision committed to delivering a superior product via advanced design, innovation and meticulous execution."

"We are proud to be a part of NantWorks and Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong's mission to digitally revolutionize scientific research, healthcare and other industries " said Avner Papouchado, President and Chief Executive Officer of Server Farm Realty. "Our robust, cost effective, highly reliable and Green data centers will allow NantWorks the ability to run and support a nationwide network and to quickly and easily scale to meet its growing requirements."

NantWorks is building an integrated, evidence-based, genomically-informed, personalized approach to the delivery of care and the development of next generation diagnostics and therapeutics.