Ascent, a leading provider of comprehensive data center solutions, and Carter Validus Mission Critical REIT announced today TransUnion, a global leader in credit and information management services, as the first tenant in its new CH2 data center facility. Located in Northlake, Ill., the colocation suite offers an environmentally efficient and cost-effective data center. Ascent collaborated with TransUnion to custom design the data center to suit its specific technical needs.

CH2 is a 250,000 square foot multi-tenant facility featuring Ascent’s purpose-built Dynamic Data Center Suite^SM model and a shared infrastructure colocation suite. The newly constructed space offers low power usage effectiveness (PUE), free cooling for approximately 45 percent of the year, hot aisle containment and an onsite transmission substation. The data center provides reliable, efficiently transferred power at lower cost than other data centers in the area, and TransUnion’s space is equipped with 1.2 MW of power.

“The new data center represents a significant investment in the transformation of TransUnion’s technology and data center infrastructure and our growing commitment to efficient facilities,” said Josh Neyer, Global Head of Data Centers for TransUnion. “With this new green data center, we can expand capacity and better serve our customers. The partnership with Ascent and numerous other suppliers allowed us to successfully deploy a uniquely efficient space on a fast-tracked timeline.”

The project – from design to build-out – was completed in seven months, with the suite being delivered to TransUnion in May 2014. Ascent and TransUnion will host a grand opening of the new suite in October.

“The CH2 colocation suite is designed to provide the same powerful, enterprise-level data center solutions deployed in Ascent’s custom, built to suit Dynamic Data Center Suite^SM model in a quickly deployed, cost-effective model,” said Phil Horstmann, CEO of Ascent. “As a result, TransUnion has access to all the traditional benefits of CH2 and is now operating an enterprise-level data center, with a dedicated office and operations center, in a colocation, green environment.”