EvoSwitch Doubles Power Capacity CO2-neutral Data Center

Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1 April 2008 – EvoSwitch, the Dutch carrier-neutral data center that operates CO2-neutral, has agreed with network manager Continuon to increase the power capacity for its data centre from 10 MVA to 20 MVA (20 million Watts). New cabling will be laid up to the building to transport the large quantities of power (green electricity: Zeeuws Groen) to the data center.

EvoSwitch (www.evoswitch.com) has been working with a power capacity of 10 MVA (Megavolt Ampere) since the data center’s opening in April 2007. This is ample for the data center's current requirements. At present, 2000 out of the available 9000 m2 are ready to accommodate customer equipment. The second phase will be completed in the second quarter of 2008, resulting in a total available surface of 4000 m2. Once all phases are complete, a total surface of 9000 m2 will be filled with customer equipment.

Data center guarantee for power capacity
Laurens Rosenthal, Innovation Director for EvoSwitch, says, “The expansion of our data centre requires a total power capacity that can accommodate the growth of our customer base. EvoSwitch users must also be certain that they will be able to buy the power they need for their equipment in the future as well. With 20 MVA, we can give our customers that guarantee.” Work to expand the power capacity is expected to be complete by 2009.

Blade servers require a lot of power
The capacity doubling means that the power supply for EvoSwitch customers is safeguarded in the future. This is especially true in view of the continually rising power consumption of many machines. “Fortunately we see more and more equipment on the market with reduced energy consumption,” says Rosenthal. “This makes us happy, because it reinforces our own power saving of 20 percent in the total EvoSwitch infrastructure. Of course, there are also market developments that increase power consumption per rack in a data center. Blade servers, for example. We need to be able to accommodate this development, now and in the future. On the other hand, virtualization will increase CPU computing power compared to power consumption proportionately.”

EvoSwitch investment
Increasing the power capacity requires an additional investment on EvoSwitch's part. Among other things, EvoSwitch will buy four additional transformers with a capacity of 2.5 MVA each. Continuon will ensure that the network is able to handle EvoSwitch's increased power capacity. To this end new cables will be laid from the power station to the data center via different routes. The power station itself will also be enlarged.

“Our investment illustrates our faith in the market for data center services,” explains Rosenthal. “In view of the warm interest customers have shown in our green data center and the speed at which we have filled cabinet space in recent months, we are confident that we will actually use the doubled power capacity.”

5 KW per data center cabinet
20 MVA means that EvoSwitch has an amply calculated power supply even once the data center reaches its full customer capacity. This means that the cabinets will have higher power and cooling capacity than is the rule for many data centers. On average the cabinets will have 5 KW available, even when the data center is filled to capacity. “This is double the regular capacity in the market; therefore the use of blade servers, for example, is easily possible,” concludes Rosenthal.

EvoSwitch
Koen Stegeman
+31 (0)6 – 30491407
press.nl@evoswitch.com

EvoSwitch (www.evoswitch.com) is a carrier-neutral, “green” (CO2-neutral) data center. The site in the Amsterdam area has a surface of more than 9000 square meters, allowing companies to put their IT infrastructure in a safe location. The data center started out with a capacity of 10 MVA and has now grown to a total capacity of 20 MVA. With this power capacity, EvoSwitch can guarantee its customers that it will have ample power available at all times. EvoSwitch has 30 employees, which include engineers who manage customer equipment both actively and proactively. EvoSwitch is fully climate-neutral. Together with the Climate Neutral Group, we invest in global projects to restore the CO2 balance in the atmosphere (www.climateneutralgroup.com). Companies that put their equipment at EvoSwitch are allowed to show, on their websites, that they use a climate-neutral data centre via the logos in the partner program The Green Fan (www.thegreenfan.com).

This release was published on openPR.