Jason van Gaal, BEng/07

Jason van Gaal, BEng/07, chief operating officer, co-founded Granite Networks with fellow entrepreneurs James Mackenzie and Peter McGillvray. Their upstart data centre, housing thousands of servers, is built to some of the highest standards in the industry.

Mackenzie and McGillvray knew the market for server space at data centres was set to skyrocket as remote or “cloud” computing became big business. Data centres allow companies to have access to a safe and fully serviced location for all of their computer equipment. They brought in Van Gaal, a talented designer of data centres who has worked with Telus and others. The three went to work designing the Ottawa facility and raising the $15 million in capital it would take to build it.

McGillvray credits Van Gaal’s foresight in planning the centre. The location in Kanata gives it access to more than 144 strands of fibre optic cable, allowing for nearly unlimited bandwidth. Two separate electrical grids feed into the building, ensuring continuity of services during a power failure. As well, the building will have a number of security features to safeguard its clients’ data.

In July 2013, Granite Networks received an investment from local IT services firm Grade A.

“Grade A saw an opportunity with our organization to better serve their client base and become involved with a rapidly growing organization, (in) a parallel industry to what they’re presently in,” said van Gaal.

With files from Ottawa Citizen and Ottawa Business Journal.