Les Pelio and Jon Shank of Pelio and Associates gave me a sneak preview of the construction progress at their novel co-location data center development on Space Park Drive in Santa Clara yesterday.
The re-used single-story building is being equipped to support container and modular data centers brought in by tenants - Pelio provides connectivity, power, and chilled water as required. Customers will be charged a flat capacity fee, and for the actual energy and chilled water used by their units.
Silicon Valley Power will eventually serve the facility with something on the order of 18 MW, with an initial feed of about half that already on order and paid for. Back-up generators will reach the site in weeks, and installation of the cooling plant will follow shortly thereafter.
From an efficiency standpoint, the center makes use of local weather conditions by using cooling towers to provide 60 degree water to the containers - no chillers are planned unless a customer specifically arranges for it. The cooling towers will use reclaimed water from the local municipal system.
I asked Les and Jon if they could accommodate modular units with on-board air-side economizers. They would have to make changes to the building (cutting in supply and exhaust ducts), but are amenable to customers who want to install units of this type.
The real advantage that Pelio has struck upon is the ability to serve containers on a just-in-time basis. Les has developed plenty of wholesale colos, and notes that customers have to pay enormous costs from day one, rather than incremental costs as they add IT load. Additionally, the center will charge different rates depending on the redundancy required, so customers can segregate their IT loads based on availability requirements, lowering their overall costs.
Finally, the site would make a great location for modular and container vendors to exhibit their products - a showroom if you will. Looking forward to seeing it all in operation first quarter next year.
Comments