Recognized as one of the most energy-efficient data centers in the world by the German Ministry of Environmental Affairs, the expansion of the EvoSwitch facility will increase power efficiency by 30 percent, providing major energy savings to its customers, and comes in response to rapidly rising demand for space in the carrier-independent and carbon-neutral data center.
"The additional energy savings are the direct result of the deployment of new technologies and the highly innovative configuration of our systems," EvoSwitch Managing Director Eric Boonstra said. "This will allow us to use Free Cooling, i.e. cooling by using the outdoor temperature, 365 days per year and to keep the energy-wasting compressor completely shut off all year long. The additional growth in customers will also have a positive impact on our energy savings."
Scheduled to be operational in the third quarter, the 800 additional 19-inch data center racks will reside in 25 corridors, utilizing advanced Aisle Containment technology.
"Efficiently managing air flows to minimize energy usage, has substantially lowered our cooling expenses, resulting in substantial savings to EvoSwitch customers," Boonstra says. "It is a win-win situation for customers and the environment."
EvoSwitch currently has a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rate of 1.5, but once the expansion is completed, calculations indicate a further decrease of the PUE rate to 1.2.
"This is extremely energy-efficient," Boonstra said. "Traditional data centers have a PUE of 2.0 or more. Thus, after the expansion, EvoSwitch will be using at least 80 percent less power than a traditional data center."
This reduction goes directly to cost savings, which also fuels further growth, leading the company to begin investigating possibilities for further expansion of the Amsterdam data center to 16,000 square meters (172,000 sq. ft.), with other new data centers planned for opening in locations around the world.
"Energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important to data center customers," Boonstra said. "The reduction in power consumption will minimize the environmental impact of their information and communications infrastructures."
"Energy rates and therefore the costs of hosting infrastructures will continue to increase," he concluded. "Investing in green technologies is just common sense. It keeps our own energy bill, and our customers' energy bills affordable."
