OU moving forward with proposal for data center on campus

Oakland College is transferring ahead with a brand new knowledge middle with an business companion to make the most of open house and entry to an influence supply on campus.

They’ve chosen Ohio-based Fairmount Properties to work on a brand new constructing in Parking Lot 35, on the southwest facet of campus, adjoining to a DTE substation. It might embody house to relocate OU’s present knowledge middle in Dodge Corridor so the college can broaden its analysis house and new synthetic intelligence institute.

The college can be on the lookout for tenants for the 26 megawatt knowledge middle.

Penny Vigneau, OU government director for financial growth, and Steven Mackey, senior vice chairman for Finance and Administration, gave an summary of the undertaking to OU college students final November.

“We will work with the info middle and tenants on several types of tutorial packages, whether or not it is knowledge middle operations, knowledge middle safety or cybersecurity,” Vigneau stated. “We need to interact with these tenants with knowledge that’s really on the middle and doing analysis, whether or not that’s (synthetic intelligence), whether or not it has to do with training. All these fields which can be necessary to OU, these are the tenants we need to see.”

The proposed knowledge middle differs from the bigger knowledge facilities which have been within the information up to now 12 months.

The Edge and hyperscale knowledge facilities are distinguished by two major parts: bodily proximity to the top consumer and bodily measurement of the info middle.

Edge knowledge facilities are positioned nearer to the top consumer and are sometimes smaller in measurement. They are often positioned on-site in a metropolis workplace or native warehouse, in cell towers or in regional facilities. Dimension limitations usually trigger edge knowledge facilities to eat much less power as a result of they’re geared up with much less native processing energy.

Giant-scale knowledge facilities usually inbuilt rural areas, unfold over a whole bunch of hectares, usually for a single consumer resembling Google or Microsoft, and provided with sufficient power to energy cities.

“Whereas OU can entice tenants on the hyperscale stage, this isn’t a hyperscale knowledge middle,” Vigneau stated. “Hyperscale knowledge facilities (are) extraordinarily giant services with 1000’s of servers. That’s not the case.”

No value estimate was given for the constructing, however the prices can be lined by Fairmont, which might work with OU to vet the constructing’s tenants.

However the undertaking is much from assured.

OU will signal a contract with an organization inside the subsequent week to conduct a feasibility examine, which can embody an environmental evaluation of the location, evaluating utilities, website plan choices, testing market potential for potential tenants and discovering out if web suppliers have the bandwidth to assist it.

The college will even arrange an internet site for details about the undertaking, maintain suggestions periods and proceed displays on campus.

Mackey stated he expects to finish due diligence within the spring or summer time of 2026 earlier than going to OU’s board with a marketing strategy.

“It will likely be a really clear course of, however we’re simply getting began,” Mackey stated. “There can be a feasibility part, a due diligence part after which we begin constructing. Once we get to the purpose the place due diligence is important, then we go to the event part the place we break floor.”

“We’re simply beginning this course of to see if this may even work,” Vigneau stated.