Time Warner Cable has kicked off an $85 million data center expansion in Centennial, Colo., that will pack in the equipment required to deliver digital video and IP-based services to the MSO’s “core” residential and business products.
By expanding National Data Center West, the facility in Centennial will add 75% more capacity, matching its capabilities to National Data Center East. Time Warner Cable will gain greater flexibility to add new digital products, faster speed to deploy digital products and services, and consistency with delivery and the customer experience.
Set to go online in January 2015, the expansion of TWC’s National Data Center West will add 75% more capacity and essentially match the capabilities of the MSO’s data center in Charlotte, N.C., launched last year. Including upgrades made at the Colorado facility since 2011, TWC estimates the regional data center project will cost more than $141 million to complete.
The expanded facility will cover 170,00 square feet, house 1,600 racks of gear, support 6400 kilowatts of “critical load,” and aim for Silver LEED certification, a ranking achieved based on a building's overall level of greenness.
Key functions for TWC’s two data centers include hosting apps that support about 70 million residential emails sent per day, managing billing records of more than 15 million customers and backend apps for MSO employees. They also support residential and commercial products and services, including Wi-Fi, high-speed data, voices, and the MSO’s IntelligentHome management service.
TWC’s IP platform for VOD and live TV streaming is also fed by the MSO’s content delivery network (CDN) based in the Denver area, with the N.C.-based facility poised to provide full backup. TWC’s data centers are also expected to support a new cloud-based navigator for advanced set-tops and gateways that the MSO is expected to deploy broadly in 2014.
The Denver-area facility currently employs 70 people, and will add 25% more engineering and data center resources to ensure its got someone keeping tabs 24/7. The MSO estimates that the construction project will employ 400 and generate more than $11 million in local income.
“Every day we serve millions of customers across 29 states from Hawaii to Maine, and expansion of National Data Center West reaffirms our commitment to deliver an expanding array of products, services and content to our customers anywhere, any time and on any device,” said TWC EVP and CTO Mike LaJoie, in a statement.
"Our two National Data Centers serve as backups to one another to provide our residential and business customers with continuously available services, even in times of a major disruption,” added Jim Ludington, TWC’s senior vice president of technology business operations, Time Warner Cable.
Photo (from left to right): Dan Cooper, VP, critical infrastructure, TWC; Stephanie Trotter, director, business operations, TWC; Jim Ludington, SVP, technology business operations, TWC; Cathy Noon, Mayor of Centennial, Colo.; Amos Smith, SVP, CFO, financial services, TWC; Jaime Miles, VP, national CDN operations, TWC; and Rod Brown, senior director, CI data centers, TWC.
