Video: Thank You Essential Data Center Workers

Colocation, cloud and network services are at the heart of keeping us connected and the economy moving during the COVID-19 pandemic. To sustain peak performance, these services rely on the tireless and difficult work undertaken by frontline data center engineers and technicians.

In the video below, INAP leadership shines the spotlight on our 100-plus essential data center workers, whose terrific performance enables our thousands of global customers to successfully operate their businesses through a period of immense challenge.

Please join us in thanking them!

At the outset of the pandemic, world governments classified certain sectors of the workforce as “essential” to the functioning of society. Along with healthcare, food service and transportation workers, data center employees were a fixture of these lists.

Due to the behind-the-scene nature of their jobs, however, the world’s data center professionals are arguably the unsung heroes of the COVID-19 crisis. From e-learning and online gaming to telemedicine and work-from-home video conferencing, life would grind to a halt if not for data center operations teams.

The pandemic necessitates these employees operate through less than ideal scenarios. On top of managing unprecedented surges in network demand, INAP’s data center operations team is navigating new policies and procedures implemented for their health and safety. This includes a “no access” that restricts colocation customers and non-essential vendors and contractors from entering our facilities. For a subset of our colocation customers, one result of this particular restriction has been an uptick in remote hands requests, wherein INAP technicians perform mission-critical maintenance to server and network hardware that’s normally the responsibility of the customer. It’s highlighted to our customers just how skilled our teams are at managing complex systems.

Across the board, the team’s performance has not wavered during the pandemic. In many cases, it’s exceeded expectations.

Our Los Angeles team, for instance, is staying on schedule with the first phase of a 1.8 MW expansion at our flagship facility in Redondo Beach, working carefully with contractors and utility companies all the while maintaining a live Tier 3 facility.

The team’s attitude sacrifice and performance each and every one of our employees has made during the pandemic remind us how essential they are year-round, not just in times of crisis. None of us could do what we do without them.