The VCU Computer Center's

mission is to provide secure, reliable and cost-effective computing power, data storage, and system backup and recovery services with 24 x 7 operations and systems support to the VCU community. The server and storage infrastructure that supports VCU's academic applications are housed in the University's two computer centers: the primary VCU Computer Center at 900 E. Main St in downtown Richmond and a secondary center in Harris Hall on the Monroe Park Campus. Servers and storage for key systems and applications are replicated between the two centers offering immediate or near-immediate failover in the event of a major equipment outage.

Images of UCC

The main computer center has monitored building security, keycard access, raised flooring, racks for mounting equipment, high-capacity air conditioning, and power provided by a generator backed-up uninterruptable power supply. This center is staffed 24x7 365 days a year. The center houses 686 servers and has 750 terabytes of data in active storage, and 1.1 petabytes of data in its tape backup system. The center also hosts Network Services devices, including a Pocahontas-Edge router, which connects major external internet connections for VCU.

The secondary computer center in Harris Hall houses 55 servers and 400 terabytes of storage. The servers support key enterprise applications including Banner, eServices, VCUCard, and various network and directory systems. Although designed as a "hot site" for failover in the event of an outage at the main computer center, many of the servers are active components of their production applications. This secondary center provides for quick failover and continuity of services should there be a major outage at the main computer center.