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Iron Mountain: Inside the Data Center

The data center space inside Iron Mountain's Room 48.

Room 48 is a new annex of Iron Mountain’s primary North American data center facility, which houses everything from private customer data centers (including Marriott Corp.) to new Iron Mountain Digital services like CloudRecovery, which provides off-site backup and archiving for enterprise customers.

Iron Mountain says Room 48 provides a natural cooling advantage that allows it to save up to $1.7 million annually on its cooling bill. Since the natural temperature underground is between 55 and 58 degrees, the company doesn't need to use chillers and can operate a free cooling system using air from elsewhere within the underground facility (as opposed to fresh air from outside, which is a typical implementation of free cooling.

"Room 48 uses nature's 'technology' and offers a blueprint for creating a new kind of data center that harnesses both technology and unique natural properties," said Bill Brown, chief information officer, Iron Mountain.

As seen in the photo above, the data center uses a slab design instead of the raised-floor approach seen in many traditional data centers, with cooling and cabling infrastructure housed above the racks and cabinets.

The command and control center (seen below) is located adjacent to the data center, and houses workers monitoring data center operations.

Cooling & Containment

Iron Mountain's Energy Efficient Bunker (Main)
Inside the Data Center | Cooling & Containment | Lighting & Power