SHI Renovates Defunct AT&T Facility into Cloud Data Center

SHI International, which bills itself as a woman-owned $3 billion technology company, has announced it’s bringing a defunct AT&T telecom facility in its home turf of New Jersey back to life as a cloud data center after 10 years of being dark. Not only will it bolster SHI International’s cloud services play as that market continues to expand, the company says it also will be a much-needed boost to the local economy.

The 15-month renovation process has generated 500 construction jobs on its own, according to SHI’s press release, and the facility will house 1,000 employees when it’s complete and ready to become the service provider’s new global headquarters. In fact, SHI said it’s one of the few companies to consistently add jobs even during the current economic downturn, adding 700 jobs globally since 2008.

Here’s what SHI International President and CEO Thai Lee had to say on this project and the cloud services it enables SHI to offer:

“We could have located our new industrial-grade cloud computing center anywhere, but we chose New Jersey because of our own history and the quality of the local talent we have enjoyed since our founding in 1989. Interest and investment in cloud computing is exploding, but most of that investment is focused on serving consumers or offering light-weight requirements. There is a huge, unmet demand for industrial-grade cloud computing services for private networks. Our new industrial-grade services allow IT organizations to logically extend their environment to the cloud, securely and reliably, to save money and improve business agility.”

Technology-wise, SHI International used “best-of-breed, high-performance components from manufacturers like HP, VMware, McAfee, Cisco, EMC, and more” with a focus on performance, resiliency, and redundancy to build its cloud foundation, according to the company. Currently, SHI Cloud has one beta customer, LABVANTAGE Solutions, but the company said it expects that roster to expand.

SHI International has its roots firmly in the channel, starting as a traditional VAR and building up a services and technology distribution business around that core. And now, like other VARs worldwide, SHI International is making a cloud play in a big way.

Keep watching TalkinCloud for more updates on SHI International and SHI Cloud.