Ubiquity Eyes Turning Sears Auto Centers into Data Centers
November 16th, 2013Via: Data Center Knowledge:
One of America’s retail pioneers may build a brand for the new economy, housing servers where it once changed your oil.
Ubiquity Critical Environments, the data center unit of Sears Holdings, is considering a concept to convert some of its Sears Auto Center stores into data centers. It is working with Schneider Electric, a leading provider of data center equipment and services, on a proposal to build and operate mission-critical facilities in a number of markets around the country.
The proposal marks an evolution of Ubiquity’s mission to repurpose Sears’ real estate holdings to capitalize on demand for data centers. Ubiquity was created by Sears to convert the retail icons of the 20th century into Internet infrastructure to power the 21st century digital economy. Farney initially explored converting old Sears and Kmart retail stores and warehouses into huge data centers. But it turned out that many of the most promising facilities were located near existing data center hubs, where Ubiquity would compete with existing providers.
Instead, Ubiquity has shifted its focus to smaller footprints in secondary markets. Farney says that Sears Auto Centers would be ideal for this strategy, especially the stand-alone centers.
