Data center CEO sees increase in business after Sandy, says Midwest is the place to be

Local data center Online Tech CEO Yan Ness told news radio WWJ’s technology editor Matt Roush that he's seen an increase in business since Hurricane Sandy. The spike comes after some data servers in the northeast were destroyed during the storm's flooding of the region.

Ness said that the flooding was particularly devastating for computer servers, often housed in the basements of buildings in crowded urban areas. The flooding levels in low-lying areas caused damages to many computer systems that did not have back-ups in a second location.

Online Tech has two data centers in Michigan, one of which is located at Avis Farms in Pittsfield Township. The company recently attracted a $20 million investment that will allow them to build four more centers in the Midwest during the next two years.

Ness said his company has seen an uptick in calls and requests for consultations on data backup following the storm. He said the upper Midwest was a particularly safe place to put data centers due to its low probability of natural disasters including hurricanes, earthquakes, and flooding.

Click here to listen to the full interview here.

Ben Freed covers business for AnnArbor.com. You can sign up here to receive Business Review updates every week. Reach out to Ben at 734-623-2528 or email him at benfreed@annarbor.com. Follow him on twitter @BFreedinA2