Digital Crossroads appoints MD for new Lake Michigan data center

Digital Crossroads has appointed a director for its new data center in Hammond that is still under construction.

David Hood will take on the role of managing director of operations for the new facility in Lake Michigan, bringing with him more than 24 years of experience in telecommunications and data center management.

Most recently, Hood was a director of operations with Netrality Properties, where he oversaw the development of a data center space in Chicago.

Prior to that, he was a network operations center manager with New Continuum Holdings Corp. where he helped implement bandwidth and network upgrades within a purpose-built data center space.

Digital Crossroads is looking forward to taking advantage of his experience with telecommunications infrastructure - which spans more than a decade - as the company is confident this will be a vital aspect of the new Hammond data center's future development.

"David's skills are second to none when it comes to managing the technical and operations sides of facilities. We're excited to have him with us," says Digital Crossroads CEO Peter Feldman.

In his former role as president and CEO of Backplane Integrated Networks Corp., Hood engineered over 200 miles of rural broadband in Indiana under a TARP grant. He was also often involved in multiple design and engineering projects intended to support future capacity needs.

"I'm very excited to get down to work," Hood says.

"To be on the ground level of a design like this that's going to change how data centers operate and impact the environment is going to be fantastic.

The first phase of the Digital Crossroads project currently under construction is a $40 million, 105,000-square-foot facility that will include a data center and shared-space tech incubator. Ultimately, the project has the potential to grow into a $200 million complex with multiple buildings for state-of-the-art data computing and storage.

Digital Crossroads managing member Tom Dakich is confident in the future of the new data center and Hood's involvement.

"Hammond Mayor Tom McDermott and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb have each made a major commitment to creating technology jobs in Indiana," says Dakich.

"Dave has moved to the region in part because of the state's strong economy and the chance to be a part of Indiana's emerging place in the national tech community."