dataholdings.com
“ALL THE MAGIC OCCURS IN THE CABINETS,” says Stacy England, vice president of operations for Data Holdings. This $33 million Milwaukee-based data center was developed by the Potawatomi Business Development Corporation, the economic diversification arm of the Forest County Potawatomi, which operates more than a dozen companies in diverse fields including federal contracting, cybersecurity, and commercial construction.
The company is proud of its nimbleness and creativity, according to England. “Data Holdings stands as the only purpose-built data center in any Native American Sovereign Nation, and it’s served by a robust collection of national and regional fiber carriers,” he says.
“The cabinets allow our clients to focus on their core business and relieve themselves of mechanical, electrical, and heating and cooling headaches,” adds England. The “cabinets” he is talking about are securely installed in a specially built two-story, 90,000-square-foot facility, and they’re rented to nearly 150 clients in Wisconsin and surrounding states. The building itself won LEED Gold Certification from the Green Building Council. “The project was seeking Silver, but exceeded expectations and achieved Gold,” says England.
Data Holdings does just what the company’s name says — it holds data for entities ranging from Fortune 500 companies to casinos in a safe location that is hardened against electrical catastrophes and relatively secure from natural disasters — the Milwaukee site is far from earthquake fault lines and has no temperature extremes or history of flooding. The strict security at this world-class facility includes gated perimeters, round-the-clock staffing, and multiple authorization levels that include biometric scans.
What’s more, using Data Holdings cuts users’ computing expenses by lowering data storage overhead. Clients no longer have to build and run their own data facilities, and they can rely on the Data Holdings team of IT experts and equipment. Plus, using Data Holdings cuts clients’ electric bills — the center, which is exempt from the state’s sales and use taxes, boasts the lowest cost of power in Wisconsin. If the grid should go down, Data Holdings has 7.5 megawatts of diesel-powered backup at the ready.
When one local company that had suffered frequent power outages migrated its data to Data Holdings, it was able to get its servers up and running within 24 hours, reports England. Another client, Stack41, a Milwaukee-based private cloud services provider, had concerns about its ability to withstand unexpected data mishaps. Now it co-locates its data at Data Holdings, giving it redundancy with the added security of a survivable private line.
“Our handcrafted solutions deliver optimal performance,” says England. “Customers with sensitive applications are connected to our infrastructure via a secure, private line to leverage our expertise, meet compliance standards, and have access to scalable, secure, inexpensive bandwidth from our data center.”
“Prospective clients are always impressed when they see the facility,” adds Ian Favill, Stack41’s president. “Often they have seen other local data centers, and then they see Data Holdings — that’s when the light really goes on.”
But Data Holdings is much more than a safe storage facility. The company collaborates with clients to help them figure out how best to manage their data and evaluate related issues. The company estimates that it will grow by 60 percent over the next five years, and it plans to double its physical space during the same time period.
— George M. Spencer
ebci.com
PRINCIPAL CHIEF RICHARD SNEED OF THE EASTERN BAND OF CHEROKEE INDIANS (EBCI) MAKES ONE SENTIMENT CLEAR: “WE ARE PROUD OF ALL OUR STEM-RELATED EMPLOYEES.” When Sneed references the breadth of the EBCI workforce, based in Cherokee, N.C., he points out that it encompasses a range of sophisticated skills in many areas. “The EBCI has approximately 1,200 employees just for our governmental operations,” cites Sneed. “There are an additional 600+ individuals employed by the Cherokee Indian Hospital Authority, and another 3,600+ employed by Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort and Harrah’s Cherokee Valley River Casino & Hotel.”
Among the STEM professionals at the EBCI are medical personnel on all levels, information technology specialists, biologists, audiovisual specialists, and engineers who maintain the tribe’s infrastructure. “We are always encouraging our Cherokee youth to take advantage of the opportunities available, obtain higher degrees, get real-life experiences, and come back to the EBCI to put that knowledge to use to serve our Cherokee people,” says Sneed, who describes some of those opportunities.
Information Technology. “Our Information Technology team works on everything from keeping our phone and internet systems working to expanding broadband across our tribal lands and working to install cellular towers so our citizens can have phone access in their communities,” says Sneed. “We are continually looking for people to join our IT team.”
Communications. “Disseminating information to our enrolled members about the work of their government and the services and opportunities available to our citizens and guests is the principal task for our communications professionals,” says Sneed. “Additionally, our communications team is recording our elders so their stories, memories, and knowledge can be archived for future generations.”
Health Care. “The need for medical personnel is a constant,” says Sneed. “Our hospital and EBCI Public Health and Human Services employ everyone from doctors and nurses, to a staff that works on the distribution of syringe services, to certified nursing assistants who assist patients in substance abuse treatment and in our elder care facility.”
Environment and Natural Resources. “Staff members in our Office of Natural Resources work on projects ranging from perpetuating fish habitats to installing solar farms to offset our energy usage,” Sneed explains. “These highly trained and skilled employees are always looking toward the next initiative that can increase our tribe’s energy independence and protect our natural resources.”
Gaming. “Since the opening of Harrah’s Cherokee Casino Resort we have had a need for STEM-related personnel to maintain equipment, manage security operations, oversee the budget, and assist with audiovisual needs for concerts and events,” says Sneed. “The need for IT techs will grow because our casino operations have increased to include sports betting in real time.”
Cultural Preservation. In a world where technology continues to expand, connections to ancestors, traditions, and ceremonies need to stand stronger than ever, and the EBCI is bringing STEM technology to that challenge. “Preserving our culture and traditions is paramount to the future success of our tribe,” says Sneed. “Unless we are grounded in who we are as a people, we will lack the foundation for successful families and programs. But we have struggled with how to support our culture, traditions, and language through tribal governmental programs. One potential avenue is a state-of-the-art interactive tribal archives facility that would hopefully spur a connection to our ancestors.”
— Vincent Schilling
koniag-gs.com
KONIAG GOVERNMENT SERVICES HAS AMBITIONS AS BIG AS ALASKA. This company, based in Kodiak, Alaska, has $342 million in annual revenue. It also has a global reach — and its goal is to double its revenues in the next five years. “We want to be a leader and innovator in technology services,” says Kimberly Homolka, vice president for account management.
Among the nation’s largest Native American–owned companies, Koniag is one of the 13 regional Native corporations formed in 1972 under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act. Its more than 4,000 shareholders are mostly Alutiiq, whose traditional homelands are near Anchorage in Port William Sound and on Kodiak Island and the Kenai Peninsula.
Koniag Inc.,is the parent company providing strategic vision and oversight to subsidiaries in six diverse sectors of the economy: government services, information technology, energy and water, mining, real estate, and tourism. Their far-flung offices are in Colorado, New Mexico, Virginia, Michigan, and California, as well as Alaska.
Koniag’s largest subsidiary is Koniag Government Services, responsible for a significant share of the profits, according to Homolka, a member of the Woody Island and Sun’aq tribes. In all, KGS has 13 subsidiaries providing technology services to federal and state governments, and their capabilities range from data intelligence, big data analytics, and artificial intelligence to machine learning, robotics process automation, and system development, as well as enterprise IT services focused on cloud mapping, cloud integration, network infrastructure, technology communications and mobile communications, audiovisual technology, and video teleconferencing.
“We provide services to customers based on their needs,” says Homolka, and that also includes professional services, financial management support, high-level security support, counterintelligence support, and facilities and logistics management.
Koniag’s IT sector, Open Systems Technologies (OST), which focuses on commercial services to commercial clients, has been on Inc. magazine’s list of fastest-growing private companies nine years in a row. Dowland-Bach, in the company’s energy division, provides specially fabricated devices, tools, and control systems for oil rigs. In Koniag’s mining sector, Granite Cove Quarry on Kodiak Island supplies crushed rock for highway and marine construction companies. Nunat Holdings, Koniag’s real estate arm, has a diverse portfolio of investments in seven western states.
Not everything Koniag does is high tech. Kodiak Brown Bear Center in Kodiak National Wildlife Refuge offers guests unparalleled viewing opportunities to see some of the 3,500 bears on Kodiak Island. But technology is also key at the Bear Center: Koniag recently built wind turbines there, and the center now relies on that green-energy power source.
Homolka is grateful to Koniag for strengthening her tribal bonds. Growing up in Oregon, she lacked deep cultural connections. “My tribal experience has been much more meaningful as an adult,” says Homolka, who is a board member of Leisnoi, an Alaska Native village corporation whose subsidiaries are in real estate and government and commercial services. Through Koniag, she has engaged her son in his heritage at a much earlier age. “He’s already a member of the tribe and a shareholder, and he’s met many individuals in the tribal leadership.”
She is constantly aware of her tribal duties. “It’s important to have a meaning to everything that you do, and the meaning of what I do professionally allows me to give back to shareholders and tribal members of Koniag whom I might not have ever met before, but who helped build the corporation and tribal organizations to what they are now,” she says.
Koniag appeared on the 25 Native STEM Enterprises to Watch list in the Fall 2017 issue of Winds of Change. That issue can be found online at woc.aises.org/previous-issues/2017.