Texas A&M Technology Services operates two enterprise data centers on the Texas A&M campus. The West Campus Data Center (WCDC) was brought online in 2019 to provide additional data center space on the Texas A&M campus. The Main Campus Data Center provides the campus with a second location for production, load balancing and backup services. These Enterprise Data Centers are managed by Technology Services' Infrastructure Operations Group (ITIO) which provide both facilities management services and 24/7 monitoring of campus information technology infrastructure and IT services. Each Enterprise Data Center has multi-factor access security, audio-video surveillance, infrastructure monitoring services, redundant utility power feeds, redundant Uninterruptable Power Supplies (UPS), redundant power generation, and redundant cooling capacity. The Data centers were designed to have availability ranges between 99.982% to 99.995%. For more information see Data Center Uptime Report and Data Center Tenant Handbook (PDF).

The Texas A&M Technology Services enterprise data centers host many campus and Texas A&M System services, including:

• Payroll and Accounting
• Compass Student Information System and Howdy
• Utilities and Energy Services
• Financial Aid and Student Business Services
• Admissions and Records
• Libraries and Learning Management
• Identity and Access Management
• Texas A&M Exchange Email

The enterprise data centers also provide hosting for Texas A&M University Central Texas, Dwight Look College of Engineering Cloud, and serve as off-site recovery locations for Texas A&M's Galveston and Qatar campuses.

Technology Services would like to welcome individuals and groups interested in a private tour of the West Campus Data Center to reach out through the methods below.

• Texas A&M University (TAMU) classes, organizations, or groups can request a tour by having a TAMU faculty or staff member send an email to tamu-it-wcdc-ops@tamu.edu. 
• For non TAMU-affiliated groups, please email tamu-it-wcdc-ops@tamu.edu to request a tour.

Getting Started

To request this service, email tamu-it-wcdc-ops@tamu.edu.

Texas A&M University (Part 02) rates are displayed below. See General Computing Rates for TAMUS, Non-TAMUS, and Auxiliary Rates.

Service Description	Unit	Rate in $	Item Code/ Product/Service
Texas A&M IT Supplied Rack	Year	5,532.00	MR RACK ANNUAL FEE
Texas A&M IT Supplied One-Third Rack	Year	2,040.00	ONE-THIRD RACK ANNUAL FEE
Machine Room Rack Unit Annual Fee	Year	264.00	MR RACK UNIT FEE/YR
Machine Room Fee per SF (facilities charge)	Year	360.00	MR NON-IT EQ FEE/ SF
Fully Managed 24-port Copper Network Switch (see note 1 below)	Year	1,968.00	24PORT COPPER NW SWI
Fully Managed 48-port Copper Network Switch (see note 1 below)	Year	2,532.00	48PORT COPPER NW SWI
Fully Managed 40-port SFP Network Switch (see note 1 below)	Year	5,268.00	40PORT SFP NW SWITCH
Install and Configure Managed Switch	Hour	200.00	NETWK ENGINEER SUPP

Supplied Racks include standard power and networking. Additional configurations will be billed as Time and Materials.

Build-to-suit and customized configurations will include an initial setup fee based on Time and Materials.

Note 1: Includes annual config changes, backup of config, 24x7 monitoring, software updates, cold spare replacements, troubleshooting, end-of-life replacement Does not include initial configuration and installment of the switch which will be billed at the hourly network engineering rate.

Data Center Specifications

Texas A&M Technology Services Data Center Service consists of two enterprise data centers to support the IT demands of the university.

West Campus Data Center (WCDC)

50,000 sq. ft. facility with up to 30,000 square feet of raised floor available for IT infrastructure and services

• Designed to Data Center LEED Certification Silver
• 8,400 sq.ft commissioned in Phase 1 in 2019
• 20,000 sq.ft of "build to suit" space
• 30 inch raised floors

 Current total cooling capacity of HVAC is 336 Tons

• Fourteen 24 ton CRACs
• Industry leading hot aisle containment

 Current generator configuration includes two 2.5MW generator sets to support 1.5MW IT load

• Generator sets are in a 2N configuration
• Each generator set contain five generators
• On-site fuel storage to allow for 48 hours of runtime at full IT load
• Expandable to five 2.5 MW sets to support 6MW IT load at 12MW total site capacity

 Current power configure includes two rooms to support 2,000 kVA UPS load

• Each room is in a 2N configuration
• Each room contains is fed power from a separate Utility Provider.
• Each room contains switch gear, an ATS, and four 500 kVA UPSs.
• A-B power configurations to rack

 Secure, gated facility controlled by card access, biometrics.

• 24x7 armed security guards (contracted from the University Police Department)
• Monitored security camera and active physical security checks within the building and on the grounds

 Monitored 24/7/365

• Infrastructure systems are monitored 24/7/365 by the Incident & Operation Center, UES, and SSC
• Generators, Switch Gear, UPS, PDUs, Fire Detections Systems monitored via eLerts, SiteScan, and Building Management System
• Fire detection system utilizes Very Early Warning Aspirating Smoke Detection (VESDA) and a dry pipe fire suppression system

Main Campus Data Center (MCDC)

7,560 sq. ft. of raised floor available for IT infrastructure and services

• 24 inch raised floor
• Commissioned in 1994 for a total cost of $1.6 million.

 Current total cooling capacity of HVAC is 176 Tons

• The eight 22 ton CRACs can operate on either campus chilled water or DX units, or on both at the same time.

 Current generator configuration includes a 1.4 MW(A) and a 2.25 MW(B) generator. 

• Generator are in a N+1 configuration
• On-site fuel storage to allow for 20 hours of runtime at full IT load

 Current power configure includes two UPS Systems, a 625 kVA and a 675 kVA UPS

• UPS are in 2N configuration
• Each UPS is feed power from a separate power feed
• A-B power configurations to rack

 Access is controlled via card access and biometrics

• Incident & Operation Center conducts security and health checks of the Data Center and Infrastructure areas

Monitored 24/7

• Infrastructure systems are monitored 24/7/365 by the Incident & Operation Center, UES, and SSC
• Generators, Switch Gear, UPS, PDUs, Fire Detections Systems are monitored via a Building Management System (BMS).
• Fire detection system utilizes a dry pipe fire suppression system

 Additional office space in connected building

• Security Operations Center
• Help Desk Central

 Major Facility Upgrades

• 2006 Installed one 30 ton and one 15 ton CRAC Units
• 2008 Rearranged CRAC units to improve air-flow
• 2008 Added a 225 KVA UPS, PDU and “BUSS BOX”
• 2010 Installed a second 225 KVA UPS module and PDU “BUSS BOX” allowed for non-disruptive install
• 2010 replaced Chilled water loop valves
• 2012 Replaced Chilled Water Cooling unit with DX refrigerant units
• 2018 Establish N+1 on power by installing switch gear, PDUs, ATS and a 2.25 MW Generator
• 2018 Added a third 225 KVA UPS module
• 2019 Replace UPSA / 625 KVA

Power and Environmental Management

Data centers must be able to handle servers' concentrated power demands and to deliver required cooling. Significant infrastructure upgrades in power and cooling have been made to the data centers to support the growing IT demands of the university.

NetBotz, an IT physical infrastructure remote monitoring and management tool, is installed in both data centers, as well as major networking hubs across campus. NetBotz units provide live and historical temperature, humidity, airflow and network data as well as live and recorded audio and video feeds, which allow operations personnel 24/7 monitoring of remote facilities.

Security & Monitoring

Security at Texas A&M Technology Services' data centers is provided through key card-controlled access and audio-video surveillance.

The Incident & Operations Center (IOC) section of the Infrastructure Operations Group (ITIO) provides 24/7/365 monitoring of Technology Services' enterprise data centers, critical infrastructure sites, campus networks, and campus-wide IT Services. The IOC investigates events and coordinates with appropriate campus-wide support personnel and stakeholders to resolve incident events.

The IOC monitors all critical support services and infrastructure for the data centers:

• Live and historical temperature
• Humidity
• Air flow
• Network health
• Video feeds from surveillance systems
• Fire and Leak Detection
• Electrical Load and Energy Management

Managed Rack Services

Texas A&M Technology Services offers managed rack solutions when physical colocation of customer-owned equipment is required. This service provides dedicated rack space in an industry-standard enclosure and top-of-rack managed network services. Colocation in shared racks is available when less space is required. Access to shared racks is controlled by the Texas A&M Technology Services to maintain the highest level of security for each campus member.

Disaster Recovery

To facilitate recovery from a disaster in a data center, planning and preparation have been made in advance for a quick and orderly restoration of systems. The intent is to restore operations as rapidly as possible with the latest and most up-to-date data available. Therefore, every system that the Texas A&M Technology Services operates is backed up regularly, and backup media is relocated to an off-site storage area.

The Texas A&M Technology Services disaster recovery plan presents a detailed course of action for restoring critical computing capability to the campus and describes an organizational structure for carrying out the plan, including personnel requirements and computing expertise needed. It identifies the equipment, procedures and other resources necessary for the recovery.