DataBank (DataBank MSP1 - West Twin Cities) Data Center

The West Twin Cities Data Center, located in the business-friendly suburb of Edina, MN, became a cornerstone of DataBank’s Minneapolis footprint following the acquisition of VeriSpace in March 2013. Shortly after the purchase, DataBank committed over $5 million to a comprehensive expansion and modernization project to meet the growing demands of local and statewide businesses. This investment transformed the facility from a 10,000-square-foot site into a premier data center hub, now featuring 17,000 square feet of dedicated space with an ultimate capacity of over 26,000 square feet of whitespace.

As part of the 2013 retrofit, DataBank prioritized the professional needs of its clientele by constructing a suite of modern on-site amenities. The facility includes newly designed customer-use offices, conference rooms, and comfortable lounges that allow IT teams to work effectively on-site. Additionally, the facility provides dedicated areas for equipment staging and secure storage, ensuring that hardware deployments and maintenance cycles can be managed with professional ease and organization.

Security is a foundational element of the Edina facility, which is protected by on-site security staff 24/7/365. Access to the property is strictly controlled through a tiered system: card access is required just to enter the parking area and building lobby, while a biometric hand scanner provides a mandatory second layer of authentication for data center entry. This defense-in-depth approach ensures that only authorized personnel can interact with the critical infrastructure housing sensitive business data.

To maintain a high level of situational awareness, the data center is equipped with a sophisticated camera network featuring multiple 360-degree cameras with 10x optical zoom. These high-definition units monitor all critical ingress and egress points. For audit and forensic purposes, the facility maintains a rigorous video retention policy, ensuring a minimum of 90 days of digital storage for all recorded footage.

The facility is powered by 5MW of incoming utility power, delivered via multiple utility feeds from redundant substations. To protect against external disruptions, all feeds entering the building are concrete-encased. The internal power architecture is designed for maximum reliability, featuring a 1.35 MW critical IT load supported by on-site power generation and a dedicated parallel UPS configuration. Every deployment of UPS and generator systems is built with at least N+1 redundancy, ensuring a seamless transition to backup power during any utility failure.

Maintaining an optimal climate for high-density hardware, the Edina site boasts over 675 tons of cooling capacity. The environmental system utilizes high-efficiency CRAC/CRAH units designed with N+1 redundancy to prevent single points of failure. For further protection, the facility is equipped with a fully built-out Liebert Leak Detect System, which provides early warning and mitigation against potential moisture or liquid threats within the data halls.

The West Twin Cities Data Center is engineered to meet the strictest regulatory standards, undergoing annual SSAE 18 and PCI-DSS audits to support businesses in the financial, healthcare, and government sectors. From a connectivity standpoint, the site serves as a network-neutral hub with a dedicated Meet-Me-Room (MMR) and access to over five peering networks and multiple major carriers. This robust interconnection ecosystem, combined with certifications like ISO27001 and HIPAA readiness, makes it an ideal environment for mission-critical enterprise workloads.