Rackspace and Digital Realty announce energy efficient, 130,000 sq ft UK data centre
London, England – 19th February, 2014 – Rackspace (NYSE: RAX), the open cloud company and leading global provider of data centre solutions, along with Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) have today 'broken ground' on a new 130,000 square foot data centre facility. Based in Crawley, West Sussex, the site sits across a 15 acre campus and will eventually comprise of four data suites with a total 10MW capacity. The initial outlay, providing 6MW across two data suites, is due to be delivered in the first half of 2015.
The new data centre has been designed specifically for Rackspace to maximise operational efficiency as well as Open Compute compatibility and scalability. Rackspace and Digital Realty have combined their expertise to develop and design a data centre that will be highly energy efficient and provides a very competitive cost per kW. The facility also allows for expansion into additional buildings and will be built out in phases, in advance of demand by Rackspace’s customers.
The Crawley Data Centre will be the first in the UK to make use of innovative 'indirect outside air' cooling technology on this scale, without mechanical cooling, meaning that the energy required to operate the data centre will be reduced by 80 per cent.[1] The use of such cutting-edge technology is testament to both Digital Realty's and Rackspace's full endorsement of the new ASHRAE guidelines, which demonstrates an ability to meet stringent energy and sustainability targets.[2]
Mark Roenigk, COO, Rackspace commented: “Our hosting and cloud services are mission critical for our customer’s businesses so it’s important that their data is highly accessible as well as securely stored and managed. This was at the heart of every decision we made when we worked with Digital Realty on the design of the centre.
Efficiency was also incredible important. We factored in everything from minimising landfill and the impact on the environment during construction itself to using more efficient LED lighting and environmentally sourced paint. We are very proud to say we’re involved in building one of the greenest data centres in the UK; it’s a huge achievement.”
Michael F. Foust, CEO, Digital Realty, commented: “We are very please to be partnering again with Rackspace on another ground-breaking project. The Crawley Data Centre is particularly exciting because of the high level of attention in its design to efficiency and sustainability. The potential energy savings are game changing and we're exceptionally excited about its possibilities. Rackspace’s vision of meeting their customers’ mission-critical needs combined with our experience over a decade of developing and operating enterprise quality data centres globally enabled us to help Rackspace serve its expanding customer base in the UK, Europe and beyond. "
Customers in all regions will be able to use the data centre, although Rackspace anticipates that the majority of requests will come from customers in the UK and Europe. Roenigk continued: “The addition of another data centre in the UK is in response to the demand in the market as well as growth opportunities for the business across Europe.”
-ENDS-
[1] Based on a sector norm of a power usage effectiveness (PUE) of 1.6
[2] For more information about green credentials and connectivity, see Notes to the Editor
Notes to the editor:
Green Credentials
The Crawley data centre has adopted a blend of the ASHRAE Recommended and Allowable Ranges promoting best performance without impacting on server availability. This has enabled Rackspace to remove more typical refrigerant cooling systems. In addition, the air flow from the roof mounted units will be delivered to the white space with as little pressure drop as possible and also in a way that enables high density racks to be deployed. The management of fan energy along with removal of compressors will play a key role in reducing the amount of energy necessary to cool the servers and therefore the PuE rating for the facility.
Rackspace will be 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. Through a combination of different design innovations, Rackspace and Digital Realty are aiming to achieve an annualised PuE of 1.17 or less for the facility that significantly reduces the amount of energy consumed.
The construction will incorporate a modular approach with the key items of plant including cooling solution, generators, UPS and switchgear, and transformers to be constructed off site and craned into position thereby reducing the time to deploy, improving the quality and providing a scalable solution. These items of plant will be located on the roof, reducing the footprint and therefore the environmental impact of the facility by reducing the amount of support space required to support the data halls.
Connectivity
The Crawley site will be connected to the existing Rackspace London metro fibre 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 will extend its London metro fibre 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.
About Rackspace
Rackspace® (NYSE: RAX) is the global leader in hybrid cloud and founder of OpenStack®, the open-source operating system for the cloud. Hundreds of thousands of customers look to Rackspace to deliver the best-fit infrastructure for their IT needs, leveraging a product portfolio that allows workloads to run where they perform best—whether on the public cloud, private cloud, dedicated servers, or a combination of platforms. The company’s award-winning Fanatical Support®helps customers successfully architect, deploy and run their most critical applications. Headquartered in San Antonio, TX, Rackspace operates data centres on four continents. Rackspace is featured on Fortune’s list of 100 Best Companies to Work For and placed 7thin ‘The Sunday Times Best Companies To Work For’ listing. For more information, visit www.rackspace.co.uk.
About Digital Realty
Digital Realty Trust, Inc. focuses on delivering customer driven data centre solutions by providing secure, reliable and cost effective facilities that meet each customer's unique data centre needs. Digital Realty's customers include domestic and international companies across multiple industry verticals ranging from information technology and Internet enterprises, to manufacturing and financial services. Digital Realty's 122 properties, excluding three properties held as investments in unconsolidated joint ventures, comprise approximately 22.7 million square feet as of April 26, 2013, including 2.6 million square feet of space held for development. Digital Realty’s portfolio is located in 32 markets throughout North America, Europe, Asia and Australia. Additional information about Digital Realty is included in the Company Overview, which is available on the Investors page of Digital Realty’s website at http://www.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 its acquisition of the three-property data centre portfolio in Paris, sale-leaseback structure with Bouygues Telecom and strategy in Europe. These risks and uncertainties include, among others, the following: the impact of the recent deterioration in global economic, credit and market conditions, including the downgrade of the U.S. government’s credit rating; 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; increased interest rates and operating costs; 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 redeveloped properties or businesses; risks related to joint venture investments, including as a result of its lack of control of such investments; delays or unexpected costs in development or redevelopment of properties; decreased rental rates or increased vacancy rates; increased competition or available supply of data centre space; its inability to successfully develop and lease new properties and space held for redevelopment; 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 for the year ended December 31, 2011 and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarters ended March 31, 2012, June 30, 2012 and September 30, 2012. 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.
