Did you know that in 2011, 38% of large companies were expected to exceed their IT capacity within 18 months? That kind of history goes to show how quickly society has been innovating on a technological level. As a direct result of such rapid advancement, data has become one of the most important tools a company can have. GIGA Data Centers is, as its name suggests, one of the world’s leading producers of data centers.
The already huge company seems to be expanding: a new 60-megawatt colocation (colo) center is being built in Moorseville, North Carolina. Colocation facilities represent a union between the building’s owner (in this case GIGA) and the customer that rents it; typically, a colo provides the building, cooling, power, bandwidth, and physical security while the customer provides server racks and storage. This new center in Moorseville was designed with efficiency in mind, taking after the greats like Google and Facebook — the Power Use Efficiency (PUE) rating is less than 1.15, which GIGA claims in around 85% more efficient than traditional centers.
“What is unique here is the high level of efficiency we deliver,” said Jake Ring, the CEO and president of the company. Many businesses rely on data centers for their expansive cloud-based storage and powerful computing capabilities; extra efficiency means more bang for the customer’s buck, and people always love saving money.
However, data centers this large and advanced face one huge problem: how will it be cooled? The circulation of cool air throughout data facilities is what keeps them operating at full capacity and power, and this one is no different. Using a combination of modular enclosures with hot aisle containment and cold aisle containment systems, GIGA is able to better manage hot and cold air flow. In fact, it’s a system of their own design.
“We call it WindChill, because we actually move the air,” Ring said. “In most data centers, for every dollar of electricity used to support the servers in a rack, they need another dollar to run their infrastructure, HVAC, lights [and so on]. By contrast, a Giga data center takes only 15 cents or less to operate our infrastructure.”
Given the success of GIGAs current data centers (which also utilize hot aisle containment systems), this upcoming beast in Moorseville is sure to open up new possibilities for business owners in the area.