HSBC Gets Approvals for Large NJ Data Center

UK banking giant HSBC Holdings has received approval to convert a former mail order pharmacy facility in Parsippany, N.J. into a 225,000 square foot data center, reports the Daily Record. HSBC (Hong Kong Shanghai Bank) will overhaul the 177,000 square foot former Medco Health Solutions property for use as a disaster recovery facility for its New York financial operations, and add a 46,800 square foot expansion as well. In addition to infrastructure upgrades for servers, improvements to the 22-acre site include security modifications – a 10-foot fence and berm, according to the Record’s report.

This report reinforces two trends – the continuing need for disaster recovery space for Wall Street, and the shift to retrofits of existing sites to data center use, seen earlier this week in announcements by Hewlett-Packard  and the University of Michigan.