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Iron Mountain marks 75 years from storage vaults to AI-ready data
Iron Mountain is marking its 75 years, tracing its evolution from physical storage for records to technology focused on digitization and data centers, according to Nareit.
The company’s origins are linked to founder Herman Knaust, who in 1936 bought a decommissioned iron ore mine in Livingston, New York to convert it into a mushroom farm, and later helped Jewish immigrants in 1945 by recognizing the need for secure record storage.
Nareit says Iron Mountain later built underground vaults to preserve records from wars and other disasters, converted the farm to Iron Mountain Atomic Storage in 1951, and underwent further shifts over time, including becoming a REIT in 2014.
In its recent history, Iron Mountain has pivoted from paperwork to digitization and expanded into businesses including data centers, with Nareit citing the company’s ability to reinvent itself from physical storage to digital transformation and AI-ready infrastructure.