Network to Install Mini Data Center at Arkansas Research and Technology Park

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Workers install optical fiber hut in Forrest City in June 2012

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A crane is scheduled Wednesday, May 22, to lift two halves of a 76-ton prefabricated concrete mini data center off the flatbed of a tractor-trailer and set the structure on its new foundation.

The public is invited.

Officials with the Arkansas Research and Education Optical Network (ARE-ON) have planned the “hut set” for 2:30 p.m. at the west end of the Arkansas Research and Technology Park in south Fayetteville.

It will be the largest mini data center installed so far in the state by ARE-ON, a high-speed, fiber-based optical communications network established and operated by a consortium of public four-year universities and two-year colleges in Arkansas.

ARE-ON is governed by the presidents and chancellors of participating institutions, in cooperation with the Arkansas Department of Higher Education. The network’s offices are at the University of Arkansas, and the U of A’s Technology Development Foundation manages the Arkansas Research and Technology Park.

ARE-ON connects to the Internet2 Network and National LambdaRail, two national fiber optic Internet networks for universities and research institutions with data speeds of up to 100 gigabits per second. That speed allows institutions to quickly trade large volumes of data, hold high-resolution video conferences and virtual classes, and connect to supercomputers that process and manage research-related data.  

“This is a premier research and education network and the Arkansas Research and Technology Park wants to be involved,” said Michael Abbiatti, executive director of ARE-ON. “Our team has established a herculean process in designing and constructing and operationalizing a very large state-of-the-art optical network in the state of Arkansas that connects to our sister states.”

The mini data center is 30 feet long and 12 feet wide. It consists of four-inch thick concrete walls that were welded together at a factory in Louisiana; the center will be shipped straight to the site. It is the largest of the 16 mini data centers installed so far in locations across the state, including Forrest City, Harrison and Morrilton.

The Fayetteville mini data center is part of a $102 million federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program grant secured by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 2010.

The grant supported the extension the ARE-ON and Arkansas Telehealth networks to Southern Arkansas University, the 22 members of the Arkansas Association of Two-Year Colleges, and more than 400 Arkansas healthcare facilities, Abbiatti said.

“We put a lot of effort and design into these so that they are reliable and they can be managed by a small staff,” said David Merrifield, chief technology officer for ARE-ON. “The standards we use and the installation procedures and processes are similar to those of phone companies. We’ve gone the extra mile to build facilities that are reliable.”

Steven Karp, ARE-ON’s senior optical engineer, said, “Everything about the building is designed for resiliency. The huts have a pretty sizable backup battery system that powers all of our equipment all of the time. One room is dedicated to emergency generator power. The buildings are rated for any kind of tornado that we’ve come across in Arkansas. We’ve designed the foundation of the building to elevate the hut out of the flood plain.

“We have 400 clinics that are relying on these mini data centers for their remote basic diagnostic capabilities,” Karp said. “Medical experts in Little Rock or elsewhere are diagnosing patients live over video feeds through these huts in places scattered all over the state. It’s pretty important that these huts remain online during power outages and storms.”