(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — NetApp’s (www.netapp.com) new, energy-efficient dynamic data center has officially opened at the NetApp technology center in Research Triangle Park in North Carolina. The 132,000-square-foot facility houses a 36,000-square-foot dynamic data center, supporting 2,166 racks of data-processing equipment with a designed power load of nearly 25MW, which will be 80 percent more efficient than average data centers.
The opening ceremony and celebration, which also marks the 10-year anniversary of computer storage and data management provider NetApp in the RTP region, will be attended by North Carolina department of commerce secretary Keith Crisco, deputy state director Tony Caravano, US Environmental Protection Agency ENERGY STAR technical development manager Alexandra Sullivan and key NetApp executives. NetApp began operations in the RTP in 1999 and currently employs 987 employees in the region, whose work includes product research and development, and a 24/7 global service and support center.
The new facility expands NetApp’s engineering and development efforts in the region, including furthering research initiatives to create and improve storage efficiency and cloud technologies. The new dynamic data center will enable NetApp to consolidate its engineering facilities into a global dynamic lab, and provide a highly available and redundant infrastructure for NetApp’s IT operations.
NetApp’s goals for sustainability and reducing data center power consumption, the company said, are reflected in the innovative design and construction of its data center. A higher temperature threshold on supply air (74° F instead of 55° to 60° F) allows NetApp to dramatically reduce cooling costs. The data center is cooled by using just outside air 67 percent of the year. Based on NetApp’s proprietary technology, modulating fans supply pressure-controlled rooms and regulate the volume of air to avoid oversupplying air and wasting energy. Using cold aisle containment, the the cold and hot air streams are separated to protect supply air temperatures from being affected by hot air returning from the racks. Finally, instead of pumping cold air up through raised floors, NetApp is using overhead air distribution, which takes advantage of air buoyancy and eliminates ductwork, reducing the energy needed for fans.
Using the Power Usage Effectiveness ratio developed by The Green Grid consortium (www.thegreengrid.org), NetApp estimates that the data center’s PUE will be 1.2, or 80 percent more efficient than the average data center PUE of 2.0, which will result in NetApp saving $7.3 million a year. NetApp’s energy efficiency improvements will also result in reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by 93,000 tons a year — equivalent to removing 15,400 cars from the road.
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