Documents-storage, data company plans expansion with Reno facility

Helping businesses save money can be a profitable business itself, especially in tough times. Just ask Offsite Data Depot.

The Carson City-based records storage and information management solutions provider is on track to double its revenue this year and plans to expand into a second facility in Reno and add several more employees to its four-person staff.

The company offers document shredding, document scanning, online backup and email filtering. But the bulk of its work is in storing records for business, government agencies, even individuals, using barcode technology to track stored records and give customers quick access to them.

"Typically, every business has to keep records for compliance and regulation, but they don't have space internally," says Gerd Poppinga, director of operations at Offsite. "We're cheaper than other options of storage. We can store for merely pennies as opposed to dollars. Back when things were hunky-dory, businesses used to do everything themselves and now they're realizing it can be more efficient and cut costs to have us do it."

Most of Offsite's customers, such as the Nevada Supreme Court and CPA firm Casey, Neilon & Associates, are located near Offsite's 30,000-square-foot warehouse in the state capital.

But Offsite is signing up more customers in Reno, including the Atlantis Casino Resort Spa, which says Offsite is saving the company $6,000 a month in storage costs.

So Offsite has its eye on adding about 100,000 square feet of warehouse space in Reno in a newer, concrete or steel fire-safe facility with docks and climate-control vaults designed for document and media storage. At the same time, says Poppinga, the company will need to add general office staff, warehouse personnel and document scanning workers since the scanning side of the business is picking up.

Offsite also hopes to broaden its customer base to include individuals and organizations with sophisticated storage needs. The company, for example, is now talking to the Washoe Tribe in Reno about storing some of its artifacts.

"Lots of people think of safety deposit box in a bank," says Poppinga. "But that limits them to bank hours. With us, they have access 24 by 7."