Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Suites In New Orleans - GM to invest $258M In Milford Twp. Data Center

Source - http://www.detroitnews.com/
By - Melissa Burden
Category - Suites In New Orleans
Posted By - Homewood Suites New Orleans

Suites In New Orleans
General Motors Co. said Monday it will spend $258 million to build and equip a new data center at its Milford Proving Ground in Milford Township — one that will back up its new data center at the Warren Tech Center.

In total, GM will spend $546 million on constructing and equipping the two data centers in Milford and Warren, GM Chief Information Officer Randy Mott said. And there is room to expand in Warren, so GM could add to that total in the future, Mott said.

Construction at the proving ground is expected to begin this summer, with an opening targeted for July 2014.

GM said 350 skilled trades workers will be needed at the peak of construction for the Milford data center. The Milford Township data center will create 20 jobs once open, Milford Township Supervisor Donald Green previously told The Detroit News.

The Warren and Milford Township data centers are replacing 23 data centers that GM and three information technology suppliers operate across the globe. The move is part of the automaker's information technology overhaul, which also includes in-sourcing about 90 percent of its information technology work force over the next few years.

GM Chairman and CEO Dan Akerson said GM's competitors on average outsource about 30 to 35 percent of their information technology workload. Mott said when GM is finished with its transformation, he expects GM will have the least outsourced percentage of its competitors.

"Today, every single link of the automotive value chain is wired and connected, and that means from the design to the showroom floor," Akerson said during a news conference at the Warren Tech Center celebrating the opening of that data center. "That's why for any company — not just an automotive manufacturer — to be successful in the 21st century, you have to have a core competency in IT. You have to own it and you have to control it and when you don't, you're at the whim of other companies, their priorities, and if they have financial problems, their difficulties."

Akerson said to win in the auto business, the company must turn information technology into a competitive advantage. "When we're finished, we'll have one of the most robust business applications, software capabilities in the industry and accurate and timely, secure data, imperative for companies in the 21st century," he said.

GM said its proving ground location was chosen because it's more than 25 miles away from its center in Warren, but less than 50 miles away. That allows for "mirrored" data, which would give either facility the same data without an interruption if one goes off line, the company said.

"It's all about reducing risk and making sure no one event would affect both centers at the same time," Curt Loehr, GM information technology project manager, said in a statement. "Each center has its own utility feed using separate paths to provide uninterrupted power. We even checked weather data going back a half century, and Warren and Milford are affected by separate weather patterns."

The News reported Friday that GM received approval from Milford Township late last month on tax breaks worth about $3.2 million for the data center.

GM, which opened up the Warren data center to the media Monday, said the two centers will help the company work faster and smarter. That includes product development, manufacturing, marketing, sales and applications for subsidiary OnStar. The first data hall — in which row upon row of servers are housed and cables are snaked under a clear floor — opened in January in Warren; a second data hall will go live in July, GM said.

GM looked at companies such as eBay, Facebook and Google as it developed its data enterprise.

The automaker also showed its Warren innovation center, where more than 700 employees have been hired and are working on a number of software projects, many in open areas to foster collaboration. The center, one of four GM has opened across the U.S., could eventually house 1,500 workers.

GM wants to hire about 9,000 information technology workers over three to five years as it brings most information technology operations in-house.

Mott said that GM has hired about 1,800 information technology workers, plus has hired 2,500 former Hewlett-Packard employees; another 500 workers from Hewlett-Packard have been identified to join GM, the automaker has said.

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