Ritter Communications completes its $8 million Data Technology Center
by November 30, 2020 3:41 pm 1,157 views
It took nearly 18 months, but Northeast Arkansas has a new data technology center that will rival any facility in the country.
Ritter Communications recently opened a new $8 million multi-user data and cloud storage facility, drawing the praise of Gov. Asa Hutchinson. The Ritter Communications Data Technology Center is the first service provider-grade data center to serve the region’s businesses and it’s the only one of its kind.
“The new Ritter Communications Data Technology Center is a significant new contributor to economic development in Northeast Arkansas and the region,” Gov. Hutchinson said. “This world-class facility better serves Northeast Arkansas businesses as it provides them a top-tier data center option that is closer than Little Rock or St. Louis. I congratulate Ritter Communications for continuing to bring technology innovations and infrastructure to Arkansas.”
Construction on the Data Technology Center began in the spring of 2019 and despite the pandemic, was completed on schedule. Camfil APC and St. Bernards Healthcare are among the charter customers to use the center. The 8,544 square-foot facility brings industry-leading data security and privacy certifications, providing business customers a highly secure, offsite location to store data and IT infrastructure. The facility was designed by Cushing Terrell (formerly CTA Architects Engineers) and constructed by Nabholz Construction.
“At the Ritter Communications Data Technology Center, we operate in accordance with strict privacy and security guidelines. Customer data protection is top-priority, no matter what,” said Ritter Communications CEO Alan Morse. “From California seismic codes and EF3 tornado resiliency, to bio-metric security and advanced clean-powered backup generators, the new Data Technology Center provides secure data center, cloud computing and disaster recovery solutions that protect our customers and their technology assets from any major environmental or cyber risks.”
The center is the latest project completion for a company that has been expanding its investment footprint across the state. Earlier this year, Ritter Communications made a $16 million investment to bring communications technology and advanced business solutions to Texarkana.
The company invested $12 million in a transport route along I-30 to get fiber service to Texarkana and another $4 million to build out the business service in the market. Ritter’s advanced suite of telecommunications services now gives Texarkana businesses access to high-speed, 100% fiber internet, voice, cloud solutions, networking and television services.
Ritter Communications is a regional telecommunications provider, headquartered in Jonesboro and serving 94 communities in the region across four states with a full suite of communications services.