Iron Mountain has begun construction on a 550,000 square foot (51,100 sq m), 48MW data center at its campus in Phoenix, Arizona.

The facility will be built on a nine-acre parcel of land adjacent to Iron Mountain’s existing 38MW data center.

Phoenix rising

“As one of the fastest-growing major markets in the US, and the 12th largest data center market globally, this expansion opportunity in the Phoenix area is an exciting opportunity for us,” Rick Crutchley, VP and GM of Iron Mountain’s western region, said.

“The expanded campus will meet the growing demand from hyperscale, public cloud and global enterprise organizations that appreciate the Phoenix market’s unique combination of low power costs, outstanding tax efficiency and low geographic and weather-related risks. We’ll be well positioned to bring our capabilities to support customers’ needs well into the future.”

The data center will be built in two phases, with the first scheduled for completion in June 2019, delivering 24MW of capacity. The facility will be compatible with multiple standards incluidng ISO 27001, FISMA High, PCI-DSS Level 1, HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3.

The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by US Congressman David Schweikert, Maricopa County Supervisor Steve Gallardo, Phoenix City Council Member Kate Gallego and representatives from the Arizona Commerce Authority, City of Phoenix, Office of Community and Economic Development, and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council.

Iron Mountain has been expanding rapidly as of late: the company recently purchased IO Data Centers, opened its first data center in Northern Virginia, and expanded into Europe with a $100m purchase of Credit Suisse data centers and the $235m acquisition of Amsterdam’s EvoSwitch.