History of Data Centers at U-M

2006

Michigan Academic Computing Center (MACC) Approval

In January 2006, the Regents approved the construction of the MACC, a 10,000 square foot data center in the Michigan Information Technology Center building. The project was a partnership between the university, Internet2, MAV Development, Merit Network, and the Michigan Information Technology Center Foundation. The original facility allocated 8,500 square feet for hosting university data and 1,500 square feet for other partners and placed responsibility for the facility under the Provost’s Office and operations under ITCS.

2008

Michigan Academic Computing Center (MACC) Operational

In June 2008, the MACC data center became fully operational and equipment installation began. The facility had oversight by the Provost’s Office and was operated by ITCS. It included 8,500 square feet for university data and 1500 square feet for other partners.

2010

Michigan Academic Computing Center (MACC) Provides Flux Offerings and the University Purchases Remaining 15% from MACC Partners

In May 2010, the MACC brought up the first 128 cores of Flux computing clusters. These were available to university researchers in September. Additionally, in July 2010, the Regents approved the purchase of the 15% of the MACC not previously owned by the university.

2012

Modular Data Center Opens

In June, 2012 the Modular Data Center (MDC) opened on north campus. The facility was designed to support university computational research. It was housed in two containers using “POD” technology, allowing the university to easily expand our data center footprint with a lower investment of time and funding that building a new brick and mortar facility.

2016

Program Gives Undergraduates Use of High-Performance Computing

In January, 2016 Advanced Research Computing (ARC) launched a new program to assist faculty working with undergraduate students on research that requires high performance computing resources. Faculty were now able to access Flux HPC resources at the Modular Data Center in support of undergraduate research at no cost.