Inside RackForce's new GigaCenter in Kelowna, British Columbia.
In an email Q&A, RackForce vice president of sales and marketing Brian Fry discusses the company’s newly-built, multimillion dollar GigaCenter in Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Earlier this month, Canadian data center service provider RackForce (www.rackforce.com) officially opened the first phase of a new data center it says is the first large-scale green data center in the country. This first phase of its GigaCenter spans 30,000 square feet, with an additional 120,000 square feet scheduled to be completed in 2011.
Built with the assistance of IBM’s data center expertise, the RackForce GigaCenter uses a modular design to support a range of technologies, including massive data storage, high density blade servers, virtualized computing clusters and mainframe systems.
The company says Kelowna is an ideal location to build a data center because of its stable geographic location, temperate climate, low risk of natural disaster and easy accessibility.
But perhaps most impressive is the low carbon footprint the data center produces. The company has tapped into the province’s abundant supply of clean hydroelectric power, and as a result, the RackForce GigaCenter will produce less than 1/50th the carbon footprint of a comparable data center.
In an email Q&A with the WHIR, RackForce vice president of sales and marketing Brian Fry discusses the company’s new GigaCenter and its range of green features.
The WHIR: What kinds of services and customers will the data center be used and designed for?
Brian Fry: The RackForce GigaCenter will house a wide variety of customers who are making the “right” decision to outsource their server, computing and colocation requirements to a greener and much more capable next generation data center. This facility is network neutral and has access to all the major US and Canadian carriers. We are seeing customers who are looking for high reliability web hosting and applications, disaster recovery – from backup to completely mirrored computing and finally we are getting customers who are looking for a low carbon output data center for moral reasons and cost savings. There are many who are concerned about what it will cost to host in high carbon data centers.
How did IBM help, specifically, in the designing and building of this data center?
BF: IBM data center consultants and engineers have been working with RackForce for a year and a half on all aspects of what makes for a green dynamic data center. The final design of this GigaCenter was a combination of RackForce and IBM expertise. RackForce built its first three data centers on its own.
Can you discuss the details of the facility’s design in regards to its “green” aspects?
BF: First, we chose a location that had access to ample hydro power as the power source is the single largest contributor to CO2. We believe that more than 70 percent of North American data centers use coal fired power which produces 100 times the CO2 output per kwh when compared to hydro. Also hydro is the only renewable green power source as this time that can provide steady round the clock power.
Second, everything about the GigaCenter strategy is modular and scalable. Data Halls, custom sized GigaVaults, GigaRacks, In-row cooling etc. are all part of this. This avoids situations where resources are required before there are customers in place and when the customers are there the resources are used in exactly the amount required. Third, since this facility is located in cool Canada the new chiller designs can take advantage of outside cooling up to 300 days a year.
Fourth, RackForce has been a leader in virtualization with more than 60 percent of its customers using the technology. RackForce is now carrying all its systems and know-how into highly efficient cloud computing. The company has virtualization/cloud in its DNA. Even the GigaCenter was designed from the ground up with this in mind. Finally, all kinds of efficiencies were planned into electrical systems to minimize power loss. The over-all Power Usage Effectiveness is expected to reach 1.2 using Green Grid’s model.
Does the facility qualify for LEED certification or a comparable green rating system?
BF: The facility does qualify for LEED certification. We will be providing detailed information on our carbon footprint and PUE going forward. Every aspect of the GigaCenter is measured so that it will be able to show how it is reducing its customers’ carbon footprints and prepare them for trading carbon credits. RackForce is also a substantial Green IT Pilot Project Proposal that will measure its carbon footprint and provide contrasting proof of the difference between a standard data center and the GigaCenter.
How does this new data center contribute to the company achieving its overall business and environmental goals?
BF: The GigaCenter is real life proof of what is possible and we felt we had to provide a data center that was both highly capable and good for the environment. It is sickening to think that our industry is having such a large impact on the environment when there are great solutions out there. Now with virtualization and today’s high capacity low latency networks people can easily to move to data centers with tiny carbon footprints. We think when people realize that ours is 1/50 the size of the average data center they will make the right choice which is good for the environment and very good for our business as well.
