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Industry Spotlight: Iron Mountain
Iron Mountain Provides Data Storage Solutions
Despite predictions of a “paperless society,” today’s businesses produce more and more paperwork, as well as digital documents. The numerous regulations for keeping data in compliance with privacy regulations also seem to increase every day. One of DeSoto County’s newest companies, Iron Mountain, has been quietly providing solutions to customers’ needs for data storage for more than fifty years.
Iron Mountain was founded in 1951 by Herman Knaust, who had purchased a depleted iron ore mine in New York, initially to expand his mushroom growing business. When the mushroom industry took a downturn, Knaust realized he needed a different use for his mine, which he had named “Iron Mountain.” Knaust had helped relocate many Jewish immigrants who had their personal records destroyed during World War II, and realized that there was a need for secure data storage, and his Iron Mountain was the perfect place.
More than 50 years later, the company has grown from that depleted iron ore mine to having operations in 150 countries, servicing 285,000 clients with approximately 850 record storage centers worldwide. The newest record storage center has recently opened in Southaven, in Panattoni Development Company’s Southaven Distribution Center.
Iron Mountain provides many data storage services, including records management; secure shredding; data protection, digital services and consulting. Specialized services for industries such as healthcare, accounting, law, insurance and energy; and digital archiving. Iron Mountain tailors its services to meet customers’ needs. For example, if a customer chooses the records management service, the customer can provide a box of documents and either tell Iron Mountain what is in it, or Iron Mountain employees will take inventory of the box themselves. The customer may then track the document – find out in which box on which shelf it is located – through a sophisticated online indexing service. Customers can arrange for Iron Mountain to pick up the data and deliver it back to them when they need it. Customers can even arrange a destruction date, when the data will be shredded locally or at one of Iron Mountain’s shred plants.
Iron Mountain also provides Electronic Data Protection services. This includes back-up tape rotations, storage of hard drives, tapes, discs, microfiche and other media. The Digital Services provides e-vaulting for servers and laptops. Customers may also access these digital records and retrieve them at any time. The consulting services offered by Iron Mountain include efficient records management systems as well as compliance with document storage, confidentiality and destruction regulations.
The Southaven facility will primarily service Memphis and the surrounding area, but will be able to hold records from other areas if necessary. Right next to the receiving area is a data entry room where employees will inventory documents and scan them into digital media if that service has been requested. The documents are then placed into Iron Mountain boxes, bar-coded and scanned into the tracking system.
The company services a wide range of customers, from law firms to hospitals to the entertainment industry, as well as 85 percent of Fortune 500 companies. Customers are all sizes, from small firms with only a few boxes of data to store, to very large companies with thousands of boxes of documents.
Iron Mountain’s commitment to its customers is evident. Security and confidentiality of the records is a primary concern of the company. Iron Mountain invests in state-of –the art environmental controls, racking systems, database development and tracking systems. Security is a primary concern and access is limited. All employees undergo strict background checks and only employees with secured badges may enter the record centers and vaults. Each storage area has an in-rack sprinkler system and fire suppression systems. Client review rooms are set up in each record storage facility, so that if a customer is audited, Iron Mountain brings the auditors to its site and gives them only the records the customer requests.
Further commitment to its customers is shown by Iron Mountain’s decision to open the Southaven facility. According to facility manager Lance Paczkowski, the company has several large Memphis-area customers, who were serviced by the company’s Nashville facility. Many of these customers asked Iron Mountain to consider moving to the Memphis area to provide service to them, and the company agreed. Paczkowski said the company is also committed to the community, hiring employees from the area instead of transferring employees from other facilities. The Southaven facility will be able to provide all of Iron Mountain’s services to its customers.
From an old iron mine to state-of-the-art storage facilities, Iron Mountain has come a long way in 50 years, and DeSoto County is proud to be a part of the company’s story now.