In response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, which rendered the Gulfport, Mississippi headquarters of Hancock Bank unfit for use, the bank has announced plans to build a $16 million data center north of Interstate 10 in Gulfport and expects to move employees in by 1 June 2007.
"Our goal is to spend the next hurricane season in this technology weather fortress," said John Hairston, the bank's chief operations officer.
The 35,000ft┬▓ reinforced-concrete structure is going up near Landon and County Farm roads at an elevation of around 50 feet. Construction roads are being built.
When the storm severely damaged One Hancock Plaza, which had housed the data center since the 1980s, operations were set up at a backup center in Chicago and plans for the new construction were accelerated.
The bank plans to use the new facility as an emergency command center during hurricanes and other disasters. Hairston said the location will also make it easier to stay out of the way of any civil-defense authorities. After Katrina, around 100 employees had to go through civil-defense checkpoints each day to get to work at One Hancock Plaza.
"The data center is being built to accommodate 400 percent growth," said Hairston. "We should be able to grow to a $15 billion to $20 billion bank and operate that data center for the long term."
In addition, the bank began a project late last month to set up capabilities for replicating data to the Chicago facility. That work should be completed within 60 days, according to McDonald. The goal, he said, is to have the bank's customer-facing systems back up within four hours of being shut down in the event of a hurricane or other disaster.