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Show Defense MegaCeinte ' Ogdleim " - v . : ' Hilltop Times April 13, 1995 The Defense MegaCenter Ogden provides data . " V A - processing support to installations in the United States, Europe and the Pacific. it.. - -.- - . Center handles massive workload : II ., rr"- - I f I II II 11 II 1 1 it .,g -- HUill vi lllfjt around-the-cloc- k or a place whose name conjures up visions of huge, complex machinery . and. massive . amounts oi wots, ine 1 I Defense E1 MegaCenter Ogden is ingiy quiet. After passing through security, the visitor finds countless rows of cubicles, staffed by busy employees. The only noise is the mbmmmhbmbmm soft clicking of keyboards, the whirr of IF fz 1 tern, the computer room quietly hums in the dark most of the time as robotic machinery loads small data tapes into the system. Only an occasional human visitor goes inside the dust-freaeaJor, retrieve stored data. The MegaCenter is one of 16 in the United States. Others are in Alabama. California. Colorado. Florida. Georgia, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia. "There were mbmbhbmm 66 temperature and an occasional chuckle from an inside joke. Small signs (produced on a laser printer, of course) talk about work schedules, upcoming office celebrations and, work-re-,.- lated .. philoso-- , seem to' operate at a quiet, : i r i data centers in the Depart- 99 , The robot arm of a tape retrieval system is checked by A1C Gary DeHerrera. tape librarian at Defense MegaCenter Ogden. The robot saves time and eliminates mistakes as data is loaded by automation. ii - i er. All the data centers Ogden Dfnt 4M9oCntr statement . minion steady pace that belies the large amount of work they do. "We have 390 employees who work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including Christmas," said Col. Dick Trainor, MegaCenter director. "We gained an additional 110 Defense Depot Ogden employees when we assimilated the Information Processing Center from there." were ranked, and Hill ranked second overall." The consolidations resulted from a plan to save money. "The thrust was to eliminate equipment which is expensive, maintenance contracts on the equipment and software licenses." said Val Lofgreen. MegaCenter deputy director. "Consolidating into 16 megacenters represented a savings of a half billion dollars." Originally, the data center did only the logistics processing for the Ogden Air Logistics Center. It became a MegaCenter when Defense Management Review Decision 918 was implemented in October 1993. It now has an annual payroll of S13 million. "DMHD 918 was one of several decisions that affected the Ogden Air logistics Center." Trainor said. "DMKD 904 nut the Defense lorries Ak'ency in - - . Varied data is displayed on a colorful screen in the Help Desk area of the MegaCenter. -- Clearly visible on the west side of the base, v p phy. Evtathdi employees - !t.fi-.-- originally more than 300 Our mission is to provide the ment of Deand other fense." TrainDepartment of Defense or said. "They customers with superior inforwere consoliat services and dated down to mation products 16 using base competitive prices through realignment innovative technology and and closure that criteria excellence. organizational looked at facicusWe focus on exceeding floor lities, tomer requirements, incorporating space, security, communquality, dependability and value ications and in our services. back-upow- control , e the blond-bric- and blue k MegaCenter covers 142.792 square feet slightly more than 27 miles if and could stretched out an inch wide hold nea'rly 1.590 Chevy van. A raised floor in the 90,000 square-foo- t computer room accommodates the thousands of milt s of power cords and cables that connect the computers to network terminals. The brains of the entiresys full-siz- e POO charge of supply functions and warehouses. DMRD 924 consolidated Air Force standard base level computing under the Defense Information Support Agency. "In addition to the 200 data systems we processed for Ogden ALC. we now do standard level computing for the Air Force in eight western states and serve 60.000 customers." Trainor said. "The third maior workload we have under taken is the Defense Logistics Agency Base Operating Support and Distribution System." The center will soon add the Distribution Standard System, which handles data for receiving, storing, issuing and transporting goods in Washington. California. Oklahoma. Texas and Utah. The combined workloads w ill have the MegaCenter serving a possible 76.000 customers. |