The award was presented May 6 during Alliant Energy’s Annual Energy Summit in Cedar Rapids. Accepting the honor on the UI’s behalf was Rex Pruess, senior director of Enterprise Infrastructure in Information Technology Services. (Pictured on stage with Pruess, second from left, are three Alliant Energy executives.)
The UI was one of nine award winners; also recognized were the City of Dubuque, Walmart, Roquette America, Inc., Mid Iowa Coop, Ajinomoto Heartland, Inc., Mason City Community School District, ORBIS Corporation, and UFP Technologies.
As the event program notes, the new data center on the Oakdale campus houses and protects computing and network equipment that is vital to the operations of the UI and its hospitals and clinics. After three years of construction and seven years of planning, the 43,000-square-foot facility provides a secure and reliable home for the institution's IT systems. It is expected to save the UI 1.75 million kWh per year in energy.
“We’re proud that the Information Technology Facility was the first building on the University of Iowa campus to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platinum certification," Pruess said. "We are already seeing the benefits of a new energy-efficient data center."