JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The first thing you’re told when you arrive for a tour of CSX Corp.’s Advanced Information Technology Center is what to do in the event of an emergency. When an alarm goes off, you’ve got to be ready to move, the Florida Times-Union reported.
And as you walk through the state-of-the art technology center, which runs just about all of CSX’s railroad operations, you’re told about the dangers of possible acid burns from the nickel-cadmium batteries or ear-piercing noises if the diesel-fueled generators fire up.
But while he gives a lot of warnings and emergency instructions, Herb Fischer, director of the AITC, also will tell you that the facility is a very safe place to be, especially if there is a major disaster facing the Jacksonville area.
“This was built as a highly secure, survivable facility,” Fischer said. The building has enough food and fuel on hand to house 100 workers for 30 days, if necessary.
“This is probably the safest place in the city of Jacksonville if there is a hurricane,” Fischer said.
The AITC has been housing CSX’s computer operations for 12 years. But the 74,000-square-foot facility on Jacksonville’s Southside has quite a bit of spare room, so CSX is beginning to actively market it to other companies as a secure site for their computer operations. Because of security concerns, the company prefers not to disclose the center’s exact location.
Jacksonville-based MPS Group Inc. recently decided to use the AITC as its primary technology site to house the company’s operations.
“It was a nice little security blanket to have this facility close by,” said Richard White, senior vice president and chief information officer of MPS, an information technology and professional staffing services company.
The AITC offers advanced technology to its customers. But the building’s uniqueness is in its security features that ensure the computers are up and running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The gated, guarded grounds have no sign telling you what’s at the site. The building is protected by crash barriers and bullet-proof glass. And the walls and roof have been tested to withstand a category 3 hurricane, although Fischer said the building is probably stronger than that.
“We’re confident we can withstand a category 4 hurricane,” he said.
If there is an interruption in the power supply, the facility’s generators will kick in to power the batteries and ensure continuous electricity. The facility has diesel fuel stored on the site, and if there is a long-term problem with the power supply, the company can probably get more fuel from the suppliers who regularly provide fuel for CSX’s railroad.
“We are very confident we can get trucks in to replenish our diesel fuel supply,” Fischer said.
The facility processes 8 million transactions and 1 billion accesses to databases each day, but there’s room for more.
CSX is using only about 15,000 square feet in the 40,020-square-foot computer room. That leaves plenty of room for outsiders. Even a large company like MPS, which is putting its primary computer equipment in the facility, is using only 750 square feet.
Fischer said two factors reduced CSX’s need for space in the AITC and prodded the company into marketing the facility. One was the the sale of much of the company’s Sea-Land Service shipping operations three years ago. The other was an equipment upgrade for CSX’s computers that uses less space than the old machines.
White said using the AITC, rather than using its own facilities to house its computers, allows MPS to focus on serving customers, rather than maintaining a technology center.
“Our value is in building applications. We would most prefer to focus our time and energy on building the business solutions,” White said.
“We get [at the AITC] a world-class facility that’s locally managed and operated,” he said.
Of course, current technology allows businesses to connect to computers anywhere in the world. But CSX is marketing the AITC mainly to Northeast Florida businesses because customers still like to remain close to their technology.
“That’s where we see we’d be the most effective,” Fischer said. “Customers occasionally have to come in and do something to their machines.”
MPS’ equipment is in a walled-off section of the computer room so that MPS workers can come in and work privately. But White said MPS doesn’t need much manpower to keeps its systems running.
“I would anticipate on most days we’ll have one or two people there for a limited part of the day,” he said.
But in the event of a disaster, the AITC gives MPS the option of sending a team to live in the facility to make sure the international company can continue all of its operations.
“It allows us to keep our recovery team local,” White said.