Ten of The Best Data Centers in The World
If you think about it, data centers are, in and of themselves, quite impressive. They feature some of the best hardware and software that money can buy; with some of the most innovative, efficient, and downright cool designs around. Businesses are doing some pretty excellent stuff in the pursuit of better computing, both in the interest of saving cash and saving the environment.
That alone makes these data centers even more fascinating- these are the best of the best, the cream of the crop. The biggest, most powerful, most efficient, and downright most awesome server locales around.
At 407,000 square feet-soon to be two million square feet- the Switch SuperNAP data center cuts a very impressive figure. With a guarantee of one hundred percent uptime, ex-military security guards, and what Switch/Cisqo tout as “the best software security of any data center out there,” this place is serious business.
The SuperNAP features a tri-redundant system, with three separate power supplies for its servers (ensuring that even if one goes down, the server will keep on going.) and even features its own generators in case the power goes out. What’s more, it’s highly energy efficient- with a patented cooling system which allows for incredibly effective cooling.
From the outside, Microsoft’s Chicago data center doesn’t look like much- a rough collection of massive trailers in what looks like a garage; situated in Chicago’s industrial district. Believe it or not, this is one of the largest data centers in the world, with each trailer housing 1,800 to 2,500 servers, stretched over 700,000 feet.
This data center is the crux of the most powerful computing agency in the world- from it, Microsoft runs email, online storage, server support; you name it. The upper level of the data center houses a traditional data center space. It’s certainly an unusual design, and one that hasn’t actually been imitated anywhere else, to my knowledge. Some of the containers on the lower level are also packed with equipment to power and cool the servers, with everything plugged into a central ‘power spine’ and a number of portable stairs employees can wheel about to help with maintenance.
You can’t really be all that surprised to see Google’s centers make this list. After all, they’re one of the reigning kings of green computing, with a number of green projects under their hat. Their offerings include a data center in Hamina cooled entirely by seawater, unique server designs, extremely efficient hardware and servers optimized to give the best power-to-efficiency ratio possible.
Their data centers might not be glorious or cool, but Google knows their stuff.
Facebook earlier this week opened up a new data center based in Lulea, Sweden. With climate-cooling, routing of hot air to heat office space and custom-designed servers (made available through Facebook’s Open Compute Project), Facebook’s definitely on the right track as being green goes.
This is probably one of the coolest data centers in the world. Why? It’s located in an old Cold War nuclear fallout shelter. Able to withstand a direct hit from a hydrogen bomb, this data center is completely self-contained, featuring greenhouses, waterfalls, simulated daylight and sixteen inch thick steel doors.
Oh, and it’s also got German submarine engines to be used for backup power. And according to the guy who designed it, it was inspired by movies such as Star Wars and James Bond.
Sounds like the sort of place a lot of IT folks would kill to work. Fifteen employees man the data center full time; and it’s hosted by one of Sweden’s leading ISPs.
Here’s another totally unique design. Citi’s data center, located in Frankfurt, Germany, is quite green-literally. It uses fresh air for cooling, reverse osmosis to reduce cooling tower sentiment build-up and has a roof made up of living plants to help reduce runoff from the building and keep the servers cool. Oh, and there are a few green walls there too, since, well…they just look cool. Oh, and something about biodiversity, as well.
All in all, pretty awesome.
Chalk this one up as a considerable win for green tech. The Emerson Global Data Center in St. Louis features a 7,800 square foot rooftop array consisting of more than five hundred fifty solar panels-Missouri’s largest solar array- which helps to power its large collection of servers. In addition, it was built from waste- over eighty percent of the building’s construction consisted of materials diverted from landfills, and over two and a half miles of copper piping was saved as a result of Emerson’s highly unique building layout.
Apparently, we really like building servers underground. The Iron Mountain data center is located in a former limestone mine under Pennsylvania, and spans a whopping 1.7 million square feet(though not all of that is devoted to servers), and employs over 2,700 staff. The data center, known Room 48, uses the limestone walls to absorb heat and eliminate the need for typical cooling systems. Like the Sweden data center, it’s also nuke-proof. Further; it’s pretty much a self-contained subterranean city; with its own restaurant, fire trucks, water treatment plant and power infrastructure.
Kind of an ominous name, though.
While all of the data centers on this list feature some pretty impressive power-saving features, HP’s EcoPOD data center is the most energy efficient on the planet. According to Gizmodo, it would take one hundred fourteen of HP’s server systems to power all of Google’s data centers.
Given how much progress Google’s been making with green computing lately, that’s….incredibly impressive.
The HP Performance Optimized Data Center 240a (doesn’t really have a particularly nice ring to it) is built from two forty foot long, twenty one feet tall and twenty three feet wide shipping containers. Each features 2,200 servers with over 7,000 nodes; with support for up to 24,00 large form facter HDs. Here’s the impressive part- it’s completely modular. Not at all glorious in appearance, it’s still a very unique solution.
The EcoPOD features the Cleansource UPS power source as well as adaptive cooling. Oh, and HP is willing to build more EcoPODs for any customers who might need them. Sweet.
Ever wanted to spend the night in a data center?
Operated by Digital Reality Trust, the Lakeside Technology Center in East Cermak is among the largest data centers in the world, measuring in at 1.1 million feet. If Chicago’s markets are the lifeblood of the city, this place is the heart; housing data centers for virtually all the financial firms. Oh, and it’s also a hotel, apparently.
One of the most unique features of this facility has to be its cooling system, supported by an 8.5 million gallon tank of brine-like coolant- this serves as thermal energy storage for the massive collection of servers, while power is supported by upwards of fifty generators distributed throughout the building.