An Okotoks Environmental firm is leading the charge in bringing new technology to Okotoks.

CEGEN Environmental Group, a firm based in Okotoks, will be bringing a new type of Data Centre to rural communities across Canada, starting in Okotoks.

Micro Modular Data Centres are self-contained units that can feature power, cooling, gateways and can host several racks of IT. They are designed with the security, environmental and performance capabilities to be placed in remote locations where real estate space is limited, like at the base of cell towers or in remote unmanned locations.

CEO Steve Morgan says after chasing the data centre world for quite some time, they decided to create it themselves. 

"There is an opportunity here, because of whats happening with COVID, edge computing is becoming more and more of a thing that needs to be done as business de-centralizes from the cores of our cities, we need to make some change." 

Morgan says everything used to build and operate the centres is local to Alberta and the centres will be fully functional in nine months, start to finish, built off-site and installed within 40-60 days. 

Minister for Economic Development, Trade & Tourism, Tanya Fir, says this is an exciting project going forward.

"This checks so many boxes of our economic recovery plan, jobs, tech, diversification, economic development, environment. This is exactly the type of project we need going forward, so it's super exciting." 

The location of the Micro-Modular Data Centre will be discussed at town council on August 17th.

 

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