CyrusOne has announced that it plans to house the infrastructure and 911-dispatch center for Carrollton, Coppell, Farmers Branch, and Addison, TX. The communities are consolidating 911 services to form the North Texas Emergency Communications Center (NTECC). The partnership is expected to reduce costs and improve service in all four communities.

“Essentially, the dispatch center will operate within our Carrollton data center environment,” said Dottie Spruce, executive vice president, sales, CyrusOne. “The recent consolidation will allow the cities to be much more efficient, improving response times and no doubt saving lives. We’re thrilled to work with the NTECC, and we hope to serve as a model to other dispatch centers across the country.”

The 911-dispatch center will be a customized build expected to occupy approximately 12,000 sq ft in the CyrusOne Carrollton facility, including call center workstations, meeting rooms, a technology space, and highly reliable electrical and mechanical systems. This marks the first time a dispatch center has chosen a colocation provider for its datacenter and dispatch needs. Prior to this project, dispatch centers would buy a facility and retrofit it according to their specifications. The project is expected to be complete by early 2015.

“Consolidation will allow us to combine our resources, save costs, and serve our communities more efficiently. The closest unit available will now be able to respond to the scene of a crime or accident, no matter the jurisdiction, saving precious time. We won’t have instances where someone needing assistance would have to wait for a unit in their jurisdiction that could actually be further away because they sit right on a city line,” said Gary Greer, NTECC board president. “CyrusOne offers us a facility that would have taken us years to build. As a data center with optimal power, resiliency, disaster recovery, and top-notch security, CyrusOne is an ideal partner for our newly consolidated operation.”

CyrusOne's 670,000-square-foot data center in Dallas/Carrollton is the largest facility of its kind in the state and one of the most energy efficient in the United States. Part of the Texas Internet exchange (IX), the facility has 24/7 security, is carrier neutral, and can provide up to 60 megawatts of power.