Health Insurer Inks Data-Center Deal

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Nebraska has inked a data-center management deal with First Data Corp., in which the health insurer will physically relocate its mainframe, servers, and disk storage systems to First Data's Omaha data center.

The changeover is being implemented in stages: A new mainframe was delivered to First Data on Tuesday but won't become operational until the end of April, after Blue Cross' other data-center equipment has been moved. The deal replaces a "hot-site" backup and recovery services contract that Blue Cross/Blue Shield had with SunGard Data Systems Inc.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield had outgrown its existing data center, which was in need of costly upgrades to its cooling and power systems, CIO Steve Grandfield says. The company was also concerned about the data center's proximity to highway I-80, where the risk of contamination from an overturned truck spilling toxic chemicals into the air was deemed too high. "We wanted to insure that our equipment would be in a survivable state" in the event of such a disaster, Grandfield says.