An email Q&A with PEER 1 senior vice president of business development Robert Miggins, who discusses the construction of its new green Toronto data center, and how it aligns with PEER 1′s environmental strategy.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Last month, Canadian web hosting provider PEER 1 Network Enterprises (www.peer1.com) began construction on a new energy-efficient, 41,000 square-foot “green” data center located 18 miles from the heart of Toronto.
The first of four phases is scheduled for completion in early 2010.
The $10 million build out will include 7,500 square feet of data center space, 8,000 square feet of office and staging area, and 25,500 square feet for additional data center space and infrastructure.
The data center will integrate a range of energy efficient features and equipment, including redundant high efficiency chillers and heat exchangers, and a local well for primary water supply.
It will also use more environmentally friendly refrigerants than those typically found in air-cooled systems.
In keeping with its environmental strategy, PEER 1 also joined The Green Grid (www.thegreengrid.org), a global organization devoted to improving energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems through the development of best practices, metrics and technologies.
In an email interview with the WHIR, Robert Miggins, senior vice president of business development at PEER 1 highlights the environmental features of its Toronto data center, and how it falls into the company’s overall environmental strategy.
WHIR: What kinds of environmentally conscious features will the new data center have?
Robert Miggins: With the new Toronto data center we plan to implement the most efficient products and technologies available. We are examining each and every aspect of the data center, as we enter the first of four stages of development, evaluating where we can have the smallest impact on energy consumption and the least impact on the environment. For example, we will use local well water for our primary water supply and maintain a redundant connection to city water in order to reduce our overall carbon footprint and energy consumption.
Other planned efficiencies are the use of redundant high-efficiency VFD centrifugal chillers and heat exchangers. This will help us take advantage of “free cooling” during colder months that we certainly have in Toronto, and help us to realize significant energy savings. An added benefit is that these VFD chillers use more environmentally friendly refrigerants generally not found in current air-cooled systems.
Where does this fall in line with PEER 1′s overall green strategy?
RM: PEER 1′s philosophy is to develop the most efficient data center facilities possible, with increased power densities and high reliability to provide our customers with a strong foundation to grow their online businesses and have the best possible hosting experience. Our goal is to maximize energy efficiency across all of our data centers, using Toronto as our sustainable model from which we will continue to roll out and implement additional green initiatives.
What was the reason behind building the data center in Toronto?
RM: PEER 1 has an established customer base in the Toronto area that has voiced its need for additional inventory. There is also strong demand for capacity in the Toronto market in managed hosting, dedicated hosting and colocation services, all lines of business which PEER 1 will service from the new location which eventually will expand PEER 1′s capacity by more than 25 percent in a green facility. There is also the potential for business from a disaster recovery perspective outside the downtown limits for those companies that require additional backup beyond the city limits in case of outages.
What kinds of services will the new data center be used for?
RM: The PEER 1 Toronto data center will offer all services, scalable managed hosting, dedicated hosting through the ServerBeach brand, and colocation. This will be the first time PEER 1 offers all three types of hosting from a Canadian-based facility.
By joining The Green Grid, how will PEER 1 be specifically involved in helping the organization in its efforts?
RM: We respect the leadership role The Green Grid organization has taken to set standards for the industry and its commitment to increase energy efficiency and sustainability. Not only have they set the standard for achieving greater energy efficiencies, but they have put in place the network to help us all continue to learn and achieve a higher standard. We look forward to becoming an active member of The Green Grid, through its related standards bodies, forums and academy, and passing our shared learning on to our customers for their benefit as well.
