Technology Solution Provider Designed LEEDGold-Certified, Cloud-Ready Data Center as an Energy Efficiency Showcase
NEW YORK, June 27, 2013 – Logicalis US, an international IT solutions and managed services provider (http://www.us.logicalis.com/), applauds President Obama’s effort to combat climate change and congratulates its client, BendBroadband Vault, a colocation and virtualization provider, on earning the EPA’s coveted ENERGY STAR rating for data centers. The rating was earned for the company’s state-of-the-art, 30,000-square-foot, SSAE 16-reviewed data center employing an autonomous air-to-air heat-exchange cooling solution and its own on-site solar generation plant.
As businesses look for ways to meet new federal guidelines for reducing their impact on climate change, BendBroadband’s Logicalis-designed data center is leading the way as the only ENERGY STAR certified data center in the Northwest, providing a shining example of energy efficiency for high-tech data centers worldwide.
Only eight colocation facilities in the nation have earned ENERGY STAR certification to date. The dramatic reduction in CO2 emissions from ENERGY STAR certified data centers is becoming more important as the world’s hunger for data drives increased levels of energy consumption. Studies show that data centers currently consume up to 5 percent of the world’s energy – as much energy as all the airlines combined. As a result, Bob Mobach, Practice Director, Data Centers, for Logicalis US, says pressure is increasing on the IT industry to reduce its energy footprint on its own initiative or face government regulation.
A veteran designer of data center facilities, Logicalis’ Mobach is acutely aware of the environmental and financial impact of the escalating amount of energy data centers consume. “Logicalis is at the forefront of energy efficiency and social responsibility, exemplified by our involvement in projects like the BendBroadband Vault,” Mobach says. “Companies are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on electricity costs in the data center, and they have to become more energy efficient. That’s one of the biggest messages we keep preaching to our customers: You can run a mission-critical data center that is energy efficient and socially responsible.
The technical capabilities deployed by Logicalis in milestone projects like the BendBroadband Vault are also directly reflected in our cloud readiness and strategic data center assessments, tools we use with customers every day to help improve their data center efficiencies as well.”
Logicalis’ blueprint for the BendBroadband Vault exemplifies the high levels of energy efficiency possible when data centers are designed with the innovative use of existing technologies. Logicalis took responsibility for the entire process, including the design, engineering, integration and overall management – including selecting, writing RFPs and coordinating construction.
As a result, the Vault is a showcase of sustainable energy technologies. Key components include:
A 900kW Kyoto autonomous air-to-air heat-exchange cooling solution. The largest installation of its kind in North America, the Kyoto system for the Vault requires no water and takes advantage of cool desert nights to contribute as much as 85 percent of required cooling.
On-site solar generation plant. With 320 sunny Central Oregon days per year, the Vault array produces 152kW of electricity. The photovoltaic array is the largest in the region and produces enough energy to support all ancillary – non-IT – energy demands.
Flywheel-driven uninterruptible power supply (UPS) technology is battery free.
Smart LED lighting throughout automatically adjusts to take advantage of daylight. Sensors respond to activity within the center and automatically shut off lights when they are not needed.
There are no conventional cages in the Vault. Custom heat containment Performance-Optimized Data Center (POD) containers were designed with passive cooling systems in collaboration with Chatsworth Products, Inc.
“We are very proud that our data center has earned the EPA ENERGY STAR rating, and the fact that we can play a part in other companies’ initiatives to reduce their carbon footprint,” says Sean Handley, Business Sales Director for BendBroadband. “We would not have achieved such a prestigious honor without the help of Logicalis.”
In addition to its brand-new ENERGY STAR rating, the BendBroadband Vault has qualified for Uptime Institute TIER-3 Design & Facility certification, has implemented safeguards that are in line with HIPAA guidelines, has been featured in a project profile on the U.S. Green Building Council’s website, and has earned Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED certification provides third-party verification that a building is designed and built using responsible strategies for energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emission reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. The Logicalis-designed BendBroadband Vault is truly a 100 percent carbon neutral facility as it offsets its small remaining carbon footprint into a forestry preserve.
