Industrial Windows | Data Center for a Leading Global Technology Provider
Data Center for a Leading Global Technology Provider
Achieving an Outstanding PUE with the TECHVENT 5300
Project:Â Data Center for a Leading Global Technology Provider
Location:Â North Carolina
Architect:Â O’Brien/Atkins Associates, PA
System:Â TECHVENT 5300
A leading global technology provider specializing in storage efficiency and cloud capabilities was expanding fast. They were rapidly outgrowing their research and development facility and needed to build a new one to accommodate their increasing workforce and mounting client demands. While the need was immediate, the expansion couldn’t be hasty – it had to meet the client’s high sustainability and energy-conserving standards.
Some background: When the client built their first lab, it was designed to maximize Power Usage Effectiveness, or PUE – a metric that measures how efficiently a computer data center uses energy; specifically, how much energy is used by the computing equipment (in contrast to cooling and other overhead). Computer systems generate a lot of heat when they are run, and to keep them from overheating, cooling apparatuses must be utilized. Typical PUEs for data centers are around 2.0. An ideal and outstanding PUE is 1.0, meaning that 100% of the energy consumed is being used by the computing equipment. A 1.0 PUE is difficult to achieve.
The client’s original facility, a 132,000 square foot building, had achieved a PUE of 1.4 – an admirable level, but the client thought they could do better.  The expansion would be a 155,000 square facility packed with computer equipment. A PUE less than 1.4 seemed impossible for the new building, but O’Brien/Atkins Associates took on the challenge.
