YOUNGSTOWN HM Partners to create data center

The new center will create 25 information technology jobs within two years.
By CYNTHIA VINARSKY
VINDICATOR BUSINESS WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The parent company of Humility of Mary Health Partners is planning to create a, multimillion dollar computer data center on Belmont Avenue to service its network of hospitals and health care centers.
Catholic Healthcare Partners, based in Cincinnati, is consolidating information systems for its 10 regional health care systems into two data megacenters, one near its southern Ohio headquarters and one in Youngstown.
Jim Yukech, vice president of information technology and Youngstown center executive for Catholic Healthcare Partners, said the new center will employ 38, including 25 new information technology positions. Some IT professionals will be transferred there from HM Information Services.
"It's good for the area," Yukech said. "You don't hear about a lot of tech jobs in Youngstown."
Location
The center will occupy the HM Information Systems building at 1343 Belmont Ave. Humility of Mary will relocate the regional data center that is currently in the building. Yukech said a new location has not been selected.
Yukech would not divulge the cost of the center, which will involve extensive interior renovations in the Belmont Avenue building. "It's an investment of several million dollars," he said.
The new Youngstown Mega Data Center will serve Catholic Healthcare Partners health care facilities in Youngstown, Warren, Lorain, Toledo, Lima and Scranton, Pa.
The project is in the planning stages now, he said, and managers expect to take 18 to 24 months to move in the new computer equipment and get it running.
Consultant's study
Catholic Healthcare chose to expand its data center in Youngstown based largely on an analysis by an industry consultant hired to study all the company's regional data centers. The Youngstown and Cincinnati centers were chosen to serve as megacenters, Yukech said, based on their excellent business practices, as well as the quality of their physical facilities and the prospect for growth.
"It's a compliment to the people in the Youngstown center," he said.
The company, which operates 31 hospitals and other health facilities in five states, is consolidating its data centers as a way to provide 24-hour, seven-day data service while reducing costs and improving efficiency.
"Small regions can't provide 24/7 coverage," Yukech explained. "With a mega data center, you have that, so if something goes wrong there's always a person there to take care of it."
Each regional health system will maintain its own smaller data center, and the megacenters will contain information for all Catholic Healthcare facilities to serve as a backup in case of a disaster, such as a tornado.
Locally, HMHP includes St. Elizabeth Health Center in Youngstown, St. Joseph Health Center in Warren, HM Home Care, HM Home Therapies, Hospice of the Valley, The Assumption Village and Humility House.
vinarsky@vindy.com