The University of Alabama at Birmingham celebrated the ribbon cutting Sept. 15 of the recently completed Technology Innovation Center, a $26.5 million, 37,500 square foot building that is home to UAB’s Security Operations Center and Network Operations Center.
Within the UAB Technology Innovation Center lives UAB’s Cheaha supercomputer, the fastest computer of its kind in the State of Alabama, and the data highway that connects researchers throughout the University of Alabama System.
“UAB has empowered our team to be agents of innovation, and now we have a world-class facility to help accelerate that innovation,” said Vice President for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer Curtis A. Carver Jr., Ph.D. “This building is the result of a massive collaboration — one of the hallmarks of UAB — and represents a tangible and strategic investment in future innovation, in our people and in the support that our customers seek for years to come.”
The Technology Innovation Center houses a state-of-the-art data center, the fastest university internet connectivity in the state, expandable technology infrastructure, and colocation for our partners in distributed IT. Powering the Technology Innovation Center’s data center is a cost-efficient Tesla Powerpack battery system which will help reduce our carbon footprint while increasing system reliability.
“UAB has a rich tradition of pursuing and achieving ambitious goals, and nowhere is that more apparent in recent years than in IT, as we continually become faster, bigger, and better—driven by exceptional talent and top technology, including a supercomputer that is the fastest in the state and among the fastest in the Southeast,” said UAB President Ray L. Watts. The Technology Innovation Center further accelerates campus-wide collaboration and innovation, academic success, and groundbreaking discoveries, and makes UAB and the UA System more competitive than ever, as we continue growing a robust, technology-based economy for our region and state.
The Technology Innovation Center is located on the corner of 17th Street South and Ninth Avenue South, in the heart of UAB’s academic campus. The Center hosts 17,500 square feet of office space and 4,600 square feet for its data hall. It also offers hoteling space that is perfect for hybrid work and intentionally designed spaces and conference rooms that will enhance collaboration and innovation. The building also boasts other innovative features to meet the technology needs of UAB students, faculty, researchers and clinicians.