LONDON and SAN FRANCISCO, April
23, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Rackspace (NYSE: RAX), the #1
managed cloud company, along with data center and colocation
provider Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) has today unveiled
its new UK data center. Based in Crawley, West
Sussex, the 130,000 square foot data center will help to
meet the growing demand for managed cloud services in the UK and
Europe. The facility has been
designed with the specific needs of Rackspace customers in mind,
encompassing top speeds, availability and energy efficiency.
Delivering outstanding Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of
1.151 compared to the average data center today rating
of 1.72, and with a design BREEAM assessment
certification of 'Excellent', it is one of the UK's greenest data
centers. The new operation is the first data center in the UK to
make use of innovative 'indirect outside air' cooling technology on
this scale, without mechanical cooling, which means the overhead
energy required to operate the data center has been cut by almost
80 percent3. The use of these cutting-edge technologies
in the facility is testament to both Digital Realty's and
Rackspace's full support of the latest ASHRAE
guidelines4, which demonstrates an ability to follow
stringent energy and sustainability targets while ensuring high
levels of server performance.
The Crawley data center was
designed to maximize compatibility to and compliance with Open
Compute Project standards. By using Open Compute Project designs,
Rackspace has been able to realize outstanding scalability and
energy efficiency opportunities in the hardware it deploys. The
data center delivers less weight, less waste and less wattage than
traditional server designs.
Mark Roenigk, COO, Rackspace
commented: "This data center is the epitome of intelligent
21st century infrastructure engineering. We partnered
with industry leaders to design and deliver one of the most
environmentally friendly and reliable data centers in Europe. Our customers depend on us for their
mission critical managed IT services and this new data
center furthers our commitment to delivering world class services
to those customers."
"This is our tenth global data center and this expansion will
enable us to grow with our customers for many years to come. We are
proud of the energy efficiency achieved with the innovative design
that will become the starting point for boosting the adoption of
more efficient technologies in the UK and Europe. We are honored to operate and provide
a positive impact in the Crawley
community."
The new data center, which is the size of two football fields
and holds up to 50,000 physical servers, occupies a 15 acre site.
The initial build was constructed in 15 months and took
approximately 500,000 man hours. It provides 6MW capacity across
two data suites, and will eventually comprise of four data suites
with a total 12MW capacity. The site allows for further expansion
up to 30MW, and a staggered build approach maximizes year-on-year
advances in technology and efficiency gains.
Physical security is provided at multiple layers starting with
the physical perimeter fence through to personnel badge readers.
There are also biometrics scanners that read the fingerprint of an
individual before they are given access to sensitive areas.
A. William Stein, Digital
Realty's Chief Executive Officer, commented: "With the addition
of the Crawley site, the Digital
Realty – Rackspace collaboration, which began in 2011, has been
extended to a third continent. We are delighted to see Rackspace
establish its new managed cloud data center with such outstanding
eco-credentials; in addition, Rackspace's recent expansion in
Sydney is accessing clean energy
through Digital Realty's Clean StartSM
program. With competition growing for facility services across
the UK and Europe, we are pleased
Rackspace choose Digital Realty as a provider to collaborate on
this bespoke facility in Crawley."
Customers around the world will have access to the Crawley data center, although Rackspace
anticipates that the majority of requests will come from customers
in the UK and Europe.
For more information:
- An infographic with some of the statistics related to the data
center is available here
- A short time-lapse video of the build can be seen here
- The technology and design innovation in the Crawley data center can be seen in this
gallery of pictures
Green Credentials
The Crawley data center has
adopted a blend of the ASHRAE Recommended and Allowable Ranges
promoting best performance without impacting server availability.
This has enabled Rackspace to remove more typical refrigerant
cooling systems. In addition, the air flow from the roof mounted
units is delivered to the white space with as little pressure drop
as possible in a way that enables high density racks to be
deployed. The management of fan energy along with removal of
compressors plays a key role in reducing the amount of energy
necessary to cool the servers and therefore the PUE
rating for the facility.
Rackspace is using an indirect cooling solution that
necessitates much lower water consumption than other systems in its
class and significantly less water than a traditional cooling
tower. The use of rain water from the roof rainwater harvesting
system minimizes use of mains water. Rackspace and Digital Realty
have achieved an annualized average PUE of 1.15 for the facility,
significantly reducing the amount of energy consumed.
The construction centers around a modular approach with the key
items of plant including cooling solution, generators, UPS and
switchgear as well as transformers constructed off-site and craned
into position thereby reducing the time to deploy, improving the
standards through factory based quality control and providing a
scalable solution. These items of plant are located on the roof,
reducing the footprint and therefore the environmental impact of
the facility by reducing the amount of ancillary space required to
support the data halls.
Connectivity
The Crawley site is connected
to the existing Rackspace London metro fiber ring. This links its
Slough facility to the main connectivity exchanges in London. The Crawley site is within a few miles of the main
European long haul route therefore Rackspace has extended its
London metro fiber ring using
dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) technology. This
enables Rackspace to quickly and easily increase bandwidth
capabilities between sites as we add additional provider
connectivity and in response to ever increasing customer
demand.
About Rackspace
Rackspace® (NYSE: RAX) is the #1 managed cloud company. Its
technical expertise and Fanatical Support® allow companies to tap
the power of the cloud without the pain of hiring experts in dozens
of complex technologies. Rackspace is also the leader in hybrid
cloud, giving each company the best fit for its unique needs —
whether on single- or multi-tenant servers, or a combination of
those platforms. Rackspace is the founder of OpenStack®, the
open-source operating system for the cloud. Headquartered in
San Antonio, Rackspace serves more
than 300,000 business customers from data centers on four
continents. It ranks #29 on Fortune's list of 100 Best Companies to
Work For and #26 in the Sunday Times Best Companies. For more
information, visit http://www.rackspace.co.uk/
About Digital Realty
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. supports the data center and
colocation strategies of more than 600 firms across its secure,
network-rich portfolio of data centers located throughout
North America, Europe, Asia
and Australia. Digital Realty's
clients include domestic and international companies of all sizes,
ranging from financial services, cloud and information technology
services, to manufacturing, energy, gaming, life sciences and
consumer products. For more information about data center solutions
from Digital Realty, visit www.digitalrealty.com. Follow us on
Twitter at @digitalrealty and on our blog at
https://blog.digitalrealty.com/.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements which are
based on Digital Realty Trust, Inc.'s current expectations,
forecasts and assumptions that involve risks and uncertainties that
could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially,
including statements related to Digital Realty's collaboration with
Rackspace. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the
following: the impact of current global economic, credit and market
conditions; current local economic conditions in its geographic
markets; decreases in information technology spending, including as
a result of economic slowdowns or recession; adverse economic or
real estate developments in its industry or the industry sectors
that it sells to (including risks relating to decreasing real
estate valuations and impairment charges); its dependence upon
significant tenants; bankruptcy or insolvency of a major tenant or
a significant number of smaller tenants; defaults on or non-renewal
of leases by tenants; its failure to obtain necessary debt and
equity financing; risks associated with using debt to fund its
business activities, including re-financing and interest rate
risks, its failure to repay debt when due, adverse changes in its
credit ratings or its breach of covenants or other terms contained
in its loan facilities and agreements; financial market
fluctuations; changes in foreign currency exchange rates; its
inability to manage its growth effectively; difficulty acquiring or
operating properties in foreign jurisdictions; its failure to
successfully integrate and operate acquired or developed properties
or businesses; the suitability of its properties and data center
infrastructure, delays or disruptions in connectivity, failure of
its physical infrastructure or services or availability of power;
risks related to joint venture investments, including as a result
of its lack of control of such investments; delays or unexpected
costs in development of properties; decreased rental rates,
increased operating costs or increased vacancy rates; increased
competition or available supply of data center space; its inability
to successfully develop and lease new properties and development
space; difficulties in identifying properties to acquire and
completing acquisitions; its inability to acquire off-market
properties; its inability to comply with the rules and regulations
applicable to reporting companies; its failure to maintain its
status as a REIT; possible adverse changes to tax laws;
restrictions on its ability to engage in certain business
activities; environmental uncertainties and risks related to
natural disasters; losses in excess of its insurance coverage;
changes in foreign laws and regulations, including those related to
taxation and real estate ownership and operation; and changes in
local, state and federal regulatory requirements, including changes
in real estate and zoning laws and increases in real property tax
rates. For a further list and description of such risks and
uncertainties, see the reports and other filings by Digital Realty
Trust, Inc. with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission,
including Digital Realty Trust, Inc.'s Annual Report on Form 10-K,
as amended, for the year ended December
31, 2014. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. disclaims any
intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking
statements, whether as a result of new information, future events
or otherwise.
1 This is an annualised average PUE for the
facility
2 Based on the survey conducted by a third party, Uptime
Institute, LLC:
http://journal.uptimeinstitute.com/2014-data-center-industry-survey/
3 Based on a sector norm of a power usage effectiveness
(PUE) of 1.7
4 ASHRAE TC9.9 2011
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SOURCE Digital Realty Trust, Inc.