Texas telco BBT (Big Bend Telephone) has tapped Mission Critical Facilities International (MCFI) for a modular data center deployment.
MCFI has deployed its GENIUS Modular Data Center, a purpose-built modular Edge data center, in Midland, West Texas. BBT is continuing work with MCFI on a second planned data center location.
The data center, which is now open and serving customers, is located in Permian Basin, a prolific oil and gas production area and will be used to improve communications and safety in the oilfields and underserved communities of West Texas. The facility is master-planned for a total of 440 racks and 5MW of critical power; the initial phase has deployed 1MW of power and 88 racks and is designed to scale along with demand.
"We're excited to bring our GENIUS Modular Data Centers to the Permian Basin," said Patrick Giangrosso, vice president at MCFI. "We are committed to providing innovative, sustainable, cost-effective, and quick-to-deploy infrastructure solutions with the economics and flexibility of a stick-built data center for Edge or colocation providers. Our partnership with BBT is pioneering change in critical communications at the edge for West Texas oil and gas industries."
The new facility enables improved connectivity at oil and gas wellheads, providing live views with augmented reality to reduce traffic and enhance work safety and communications in the oilfields.
Founded in 1960, BBT is headquartered in Alpine, Texas, and provides voice and fiber services to those in the Basin area. Last April the telco announced plans to build a colocation data center in Midland that would be the first multi-tenant facility in the area.
"This is BBT's first data center and it is a success because of the expertise and guidance from the MCFI team," said Neville Haynes, vice president of Data Center Operations at BBT. "MCFI deployed within our accelerated timeline, pivoted quickly, and accommodated our anchor tenant requests while overcoming challenges related to permitting, construction, the pandemic, severe weather and supply chains. MCFI handled the entire process perfectly."
