$500m. That's the going rate for a data smelter these days. You know, a facility run by
a company such as Google or Microsoft that moves bits around and consumes more power than
old-school metal processing plants.
Most companies in need of such horsepower go out of their way to build the computing
centers in cities with cheap power. To date, that has meant tapping hydroelectric power in the
Pacific Northwest or scheming tax breaks out of city officials in places like Oklahoma or South
Carolina to get a "per watt" edge. So imagine our surprise upon learning that one of the world's
most tightly-packed and energy-demanding data centers will go up in Las Vegas - a place where
desert-bound casinos suck up huge amounts of electricity to fuel their neon signs, slot machines and suites.
In the coming months, a little known technology giant called Switch Communications will
open the SuperNAP. This 407,000 square foot computing compound will house servers
and storage systems owned by many of the world's most prominent companies. And, unlike
most centers of its kind, the SuperNAP will not rely on raised floors or liquid cooling systems
to keep the hardware humming. Instead, it will be fueled by custom designs that allow it to
maintain an astonishing 1,500 watts per square foot - or close to three times the industry standard.
Switch has operated co-location facilities in Las Vegas for about eight years. The company lays
claim to a unique set-up, as it owns a huge networking facility where more than 20 of the US's
major carriers funnel their traffic and a number of data centers make use of all that bandwidth.
These state-of-the-art computing centers have attracted a number of Fortune 100 companies,
including technology and media heavies.
"In my opinion Switch has the finest data centers available anywhere," said David Matanane,
the senior manager of hosted services at Cisco Systems.
The SuperNAP stands as the culmination of everything Switch has learned from these
businesses to date.
The facility will make use of a custom Switch concept dubbed the T-SCIF or Thermal Separate
Compartment in a Facility. The T-SCIF is sort of like a little shack for hardware. Customers
slot their systems into the unit with the front half of the hardware sticking out into the main data
center room and the back half sitting inside the T-SCIF. This approach makes sure that only
cooled air reaches the front of servers and storage boxes, while all of the hot air is released into
the sealed T-SCIF and then expelled through a series of ducts.
"We can do 500 or 600 per cent more cooling per cubic feet per minute than everyone
else who designs their data centers with raised floors and cooling systems from Liebert,"
Switch CEO Rob Roy told us. "The raised floor kind of works against the laws of physics.
Cold air does not want to fly up through a room. Everyone in the world knows that is
probably not the right way to approach things."
With the T-SCIFs, Switch makes sure that cold air and hot air never intermingle. As a result,
the hardware receives near uniform cooling with 68 degree Fahrenheit air rushing into the boxes.
Beyond these cooling systems, Switch has set up a sophisticated power system inside of its
data centers. The company promise 100 per cent uptime thanks to a power distribution
arrangement that's divided in Red, Blue and Grey systems. The company literally color
codes all of its gear, making sure employees only fiddle with gear on one color scheme
per day. The hardware is then connected to at least two of the grids, and Switch says it
can survive just about any type of outage - be it at the utility company or Switch itself -
because the company has access to a number of different suppliers.
To feed the SuperNAP, Switch will take this system to the next level running what it
calls a power spine down the center of the 407,000 square foot facility.
SuperNAP's Spine
Switch has very close ties to the local energy concerns, letting it get power at about 5 to 6
cents per kilowatt hour. (The likes of Google can enjoy about 3 cents per kilowatt hour in
some places thanks to tax breaks. Here's to you, local taxpayer. Google needs the money.)
The SuperNAP will eat up more power than three mega-casinos put together, but Roy isn't
worried about running out of juice anytime soon. Las Vegas has access to power generated
by the Hoover Dam and power plants being built to fuel California.
SuperNAP - By The Numbers