An old data center, in the way of a new one
When Infomart Data Centers, a national data center provider, wanted to open operations in Ashburn, Virginia, it identified the old AOL data center building as an ideal location and hired DPR Construction — a national construction firm booking around $4 billion in new builds a year — to handle the design and build-out.
DPR contracted with Quantum Technology to decommission the old data center and purchase the assets, dismantling the existing build-out, pulling all the feeders, and preparing the space for a brand-new data center build.
The scale of the site
A big job, run on safety
A 30–40-member crew worked the site for about 10 weeks. Each day began with a pre-task checklist identifying the day’s tasks, crew assignments and possible hazards — with hazards called out by every member of each team to encourage full participation in a 100% safe working environment. Crews operated under OSHA regulations with forklift and fall-protection certification.
Beyond the equipment decommission, Quantum recycled roughly 328,000 lbs of non-ferrous metal and 443,000 lbs of scrap steel — purchasing the assets and keeping the recoverable material out of landfill.
Three battery rooms held approximately 800,000 lbs of wet-cell lead-acid batteries — all removed and handled by trained, certified crews.
Six data centers’ worth of infrastructure
Power, cooling, batteries and structure — across the whole facility.
Cleared, recovered, and reborn
The old facility came out cleanly and safely — and the building went on to a second life as a major data center.
A new data center was born
The client was extremely satisfied, and the former AOL building became a major data center for Infomart.
A 100% safe program
Daily pre-task hazard reviews and OSHA-certified crews kept a large, high-voltage decommission running safely.
Assets bought and recycled
Quantum purchased the assets and recycled hundreds of thousands of pounds of non-ferrous metal and steel.
From the project
Repurposing a data center shell?
We clear existing facilities for new builds — power, cooling, batteries and all — on OSHA-certified, safety-first programs, and buy the assets to keep your costs down.