FedEx has opened its first environmentally sustainable data centre located next to the FedExRocky Mountain Tech Centre in Colorado Springs, USA.
Based on green design standards, the Enterprise Data Centre–West (EDC-W) can be counted amongthe most energy-efficient data centres in the USA, FedEx said.
The first construction phase of the 13,006 sqm building began in 2006 and was completed in 2008.In the second phase, the existing data centre infrastructure was upgraded with an additional 2,415sqm.
Kevin M. Humphries, senior vice president of Information Technology for FedEx Services,commented: “The EDC-W represents a major milestone in our strategy to leverage advancedtechnologies for the benefit of our customers and to position FedEx for future growth. We now havea technology model that, going forward, will improve productivity, enhance reliability and helpreduce our impact on the environment.”
Over the next three years, FedEx technology teams will transport core systems and applicationsfrom the Customer Technology Centre (CTC) in Memphis to Colorado Springs. The massive transfer ofdata which is already in progress will require thousands of hours of work to ensure the successfulimplementation of the simplified and consolidated infrastructure, FedEx explained.
The EDC-W is equipped with multiple redundancies to maintain a constant availability of power.The building is connected to two separate utility sub-stations that can easily be switched from oneto the other, if required. To ensure total reliability, nearly 2,000 batteries can keep the datacentre running for a sufficient period of time at full load, giving eight onsite generators morethan enough time to power up.
FedEx said a major challenge to operating a green data centre is the amount of energy itrequires to maintain a consistently cool temperature for the computing environment. The EDC-W wasconstructed with a range of redundant mechanical and electrical systems that yield a high level ofenergy efficiency while reducing costs. For example, variable frequency drives, used by themechanical systems, can fine tune the amount of power consumed according to the level ofdemand.
Another energy saver is the climate in Colorado Springs. The low humidity and cooler airprovides the data centre with “free cooling”, FedEx said. The company expects the data centre tobenefit from more than 5,000 hours of “free cooling” during a normal year.
During the construction phase, over 75% of the construction waste was diverted from a landfill.Additionally, nearly 11% of the building products were extracted and produced regionally while morethan 14% of other materials contain recycled content. “These are only a few of the earth-friendlyinitiatives that comprise the data centre’s environment,” FedEx added.
