A Look Inside CentraComm: How Our Data Center Works with Dave Kroske

“We’re ready for Armageddon,” laughs Dave Kroske, CentraComm’s Network Operations Center Manager, Cloud Services Manager, and Data Centers Manager—the self-described “guy with the dirty boots” who regularly works out in the field, keeping clients’ data safe.   

Kroske speaks from inside CentraComm’s Bluffton Data Center, a facility that was built originally for the Department of Defense during the Cold War to withstand nuclear fallout. As a provider of internet security services, risk assessment, and risk mitigation, CentraComm takes data security very seriously. That’s why a blast-hardened building designed to keep people alive in the case of a nearby nuclear strike is the ideal location for clients to park their irreplaceable equipment and data.

Most data centers are standard, steel-framed commercial buildings—structures that wouldn’t withstand, say, an EF5 tornado. CentraComm’s data center, however, is built with 18-inch-thick concrete walls. And while other data centers might keep their generators outside on a pad, CentraComm keeps redundant generators safely inside their destruction-proof building. Rather than rely on commercial gas or other public infrastructures, CentraCom keeps their own 4,000-gallon oil tank, water system, and wells.

“We might see a tornado go by on a security camera, but that’s it,” says Kroske. “This building is going nowhere.” 

Why are such stringent security and safety measures important?

Kroske explains that a company needs off-site colocation services, beyond third-party cloud storage, that can be accessed immediately. With a redundant infrastructure housed on site, a company facing a fire, natural disaster, or other emergency can be back in business within minutes or hours rather than days or weeks. This is especially crucial for manufacturing companies and health care systems, where just a little downtime can translate to significant loss of money, or even life.

“That’s what we do,” says Kroske. “It’s what CentraComm is all about. We allow you to continue serving your customers.”

Learn more about how CentraComm keeps your data safe and other services we provide for your business’ IT needs.