Mississippi Data Center Announced By Venyu Solutions

The University of Mississippi Medical Center announced in late February that it is partnering with Venyu Solutions to transform part of its campus into a data center.

UMMC entered into a lease agreement with the Baton Rouge-based data center company to transform an old building on campus into a new computing facility that will serve as a hub for the hospital's growing telehealth program. Along with renovating the building, Venyu will be creating a separate 16,000-square-foot stand-alone structure to accommodate the increasing demand for the medical center's telehealth services.

"Mississippi is a national leader in telehealth, and today's announcement marks an important step toward even more innovation and development," said Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant. "We are not only growing the medical corridor in the Jackson metro area, we are ensuring we have the infrastructure in place to develop new health-care solutions that can improve the lives of Mississippians."

As part of the remodel, the Mississippi data center will be connected to 165 hospitals, clinics, businesses and other health care organizations across the state. The site will also serve as a data warehouse for Venyu and possibly other organizations in the near future.

The campus building has sat unused for the past decade, and the city has been looking for ways to redevelop it. Venyu specializes in refurbishing old structures and making them useful as data centers. This is the company's fourth facility. Its flagship location is a Baton Rouge data center that was previously a historic site. This operational model is appealing to the company as it often provides data center tax incentives in return for revitalizing older areas.

Construction on the project is expected to start in April or May and the opening of the Mississippi data center is planned for July 2016.

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