Colorado Springs Attracting Major Data Centers – Shall we dub it ‘TECHNOLOGY VALLEY’?

Colorado Springs is a hot bed for technology companies.  In the most recent years leading companies such as FedEx, Progressive Insurance, Verizon Wireless, HP, Agilent and Wal-Mart have decided to make Colorado Springs, CO the home for their data centers.   Is Colorado Springs quickly becoming the Silicon Valley or shall we dub it ‘Technology Valley’ due to its ongoing and aggressive interest to attract major companies to the region?

We recently sat down with Dave White, Executive Vice President of Marketing for the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber and Economic Development Corporation (EDC) to gain a better insight as to the who, why and why of Colorado Springs.

The mission of the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC is to attract new jobs and investments into the region with a focus on companies interested in a long-term location for their HQ or Technology operations.  According to Dave, companies such as Wal-Mart, who is currently constructing a brand new data center in Colorado Springs, companies due a lot of due diligence before settling on a specific geographic location for their ‘technology’ centers.

About six years ago, Progressive Insurance moved its data center to Colorado Springs due to the area’s low electricity costs and risk adverse geography (Colorado Springs sits outside of the zone of any major natural disaster threats).   The combination of costs of power, typically offered at $0.045 per KW/hour, with a low risk location particularly made Colorado Springs an attractive location to build their data center.

Another key attribute that Colorado Springs offers is ‘free air cooling.’  Free air-cooling, an emerging trend in the industry (though companies like Iron Mountain, who store vital records and offers underground space for data centers within its Boyers, PA limestone cavern has been employing hydraulic and free air cooling for more than 20 years.)  Free air-cooling in Colorado Springs is made possible due to the area’s cool nights.  Even though the temperatures could easily climb to 90F in the summer, nights quickly cool down to 50F.  This temperature fluctuation allows for less taxing on electricity and offers access to free air for natural cooling capabilities.

The Greater Colorado Springs Chamber and EDC has put a tremendous amount of effort into identifying the key benefits of the area while providing additional incentives to lure major corporations to the region.  Additional incentives include business and personal tax rebates.  These cover state, city and school taxes.  Furthermore, the Chamber has been providing custom incentive offerings for major companies, like Wal-Mart to build in their region.

With Incentives – personal and business tax rebates, costs savings in power and cooling, and a geographically safe zone, Colorado Springs is a burgeoning area for major enterprises.  Finally, you won’t be without network connectivity since the area is also home to key telecom industry giants including Level 3, CenturyLink and Zayo.  The area is set to continue to grow; this will attract a wealth of knowledge while also tapping into the already highly educated individuals in the area.  The creation of jobs, the improvements in the school, the quality of life and the safety and well being of your company’s data – that should be worth all of the savings in the world – but we all know, it’s not.

For more information about the Greater Colorado Springs Chamber and Economic Development Corporation or to find out how you can benefit from existing or customized incentives to join the marquee companies already building in the region, contact  719-471-8183 or visit www.coloradospringschamber.org

 

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BSNL’s Data Center Fire Reminds Us to Know Our Fire Suppression Options

Though it was about half way across the world, the fire that affected BSNL’s network in India was another reminder of the importance of ensuring your telecom infrastructure is protected with the right fire suppression solution.    A bit closer to home, back in October 2011 the New York Stock Exchange experienced a small fire in its Mahwah, NJ data center.  While BSNL’s network, including landlines, mobile service and financial transaction capabilities were felt wide and far, NYSE’s fire was extinguished rather quickly and did not affect trading the next day.

More than we know, fires or smoke situations occur in data centers across the country on a relatively regular basis.  It’s the ones that we don’t hear about that most likely were not service affecting (at least on a grand scale), were able to be contained in a relatively short amount of time, and/or their fire or smoke suppression systems did not drench the equipment but simply snuff the source to contain any potential damage.   This is one of the most critical elements of data center design – ensuring that you have the right fire suppression solution for each phase of a potentially hazardous situation.

There are systems that activate based on smoke and heat sensitivity.  But further to that, the systems are also activated based on the severity of the issue.  Multi-prong mitigation solutions must be considered.  Typical buildings, especially older or dated buildings, rely on overhead sprinkler systems.  But that’s simply not appropriate for a fire situation in a data center.  Why?  Have you ever spilled water on your laptop?  Imagine pouring tons of water on your switching gear, Internet routers, dousing your copper or fiber connections with water and drenching an entire facility.  Water will short circuit systems, ensure a complete re-installation and re-purchase is required and cost you tons of time and man-hours to repair.  Data center operators have a tremendous cleanup job after a waterlogged fire situation and that’s just the start of it.  

According to Fenwal Protection Systems, sprinklers are designed to protect the building structure, but not a company’s assets.  They require significant heat to operate, typically requiring a full flaming fire to set it off- destroying key assets at the source of the fire.  Furthermore, collateral damage from water and smoke also destroy electronic equipment quite a distance away from the incident.  Fenwal estimates the downtime costs can be enormous.  Consider that revenue per hours has been estimated to be $1.5M in financial services, $1.2M in insurance and $1.0M in banking alone. 

Knowing your options, accessibility to these options and the wherewithal too install the right solution is key to a successful and hazard free data center operation.  The NYSE fire situation was quickly extinguished with very little to know affect on vital operations of its business.  Though it was not disclosed what fire suppression system they used, one can hazard a guess that it is a gas containment solution like Fenwal Protection Systems’  aragonite inert gas, which promises zero environmental impact when used as a fire protection solution.   Fenwal touts a variety of solutions including clean agent suppression systems, high sensitivity smoke detection systems, and intelligent detection and control systems.  Consulting the right solution provider can and will save you millions of dollars.  And knowing the type of system your data center uses will ensure that your equipment is safe guarded even when other systems may be damaged.

For more information about data center fire suppression systems contact visit www.fenwalfire.com or email info@wiredre.com.

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How Energy Efficient is Your Data Center?

This is the question asked by Deerns Consulting Engineers' white paper published in the fall of 2011.  The white paper addresses key issues associated with energy optimization of data centers, with an emphasis on implementing cost-savings solutions.  "Based on Deerns' experience, energy savings of 15-35% with a payback time of less than one year are feasible, even for very efficient facilities," cites the paper.  What they know can help companies excel at creating reliable data centers while reducing costs associated with energy bills - and who doesn't want cost savings?

According to Deerns' paper, now is the right time to upgrade your data center facility.  There are a number of nationwide rebate programs from utility companies, municipalities and state and federal grants that companies can leverage.  While many data centers have already taken advantage of these incentives, Deerns can help you do so too - while they are still in play.  So how do they reduce your energy consumption? ..... Read the full article here, How Energy Efficient is YOUR Data Center? courtesy of WiredRE

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Fire Suppression Considerations for Your Data Center

Researching information on the different methods of fire suppression for data centers, I came across this article from 2006 written by Matt Stansberry of TechTarget.  He writes, "fire suppression experts determined one method is not enough to keep your facility safe and equipment functioning. You need both."

What are the options?  There's water and gas.  One of the article participants included a Florida-based automotive services company that uses clean agent gas with sprinklers as backup.  "The dry system acts a lot quicker than water. It's activated by smoke."  When constructing smart data center solutions, it would be logical to assume that gas - a clean agent - would be the most preferential choice.  Since 2006 there have been some tremendous strides in fire suppression solutions, one such company, Fenwal Protection Systems, offers a number of options specifically designed for data centers, IT facilities, telecommunications centers and switch gear rooms.   

Fenwal 9300 Series features an environmentally friendly, sustainable technology that is clean and non-toxic.  It is certified for use in occupied spaces.  It is a compound of carbon, fluorine and hydrogen in a colorless, odorless and electrically non-conductive gas.  It suppresses fires by a combination of chemical and physical mechanisms without affecting the available oxygen.  The benefit of this gas for data centers is that is its clean, leaves no residue and nearly eliminates costly after-fire clean-up.  Most materials such as steel, stainless steel, aluminum, brass and other metals as well as plastics, rubber and electronic components are unaffected by explores to FM-200.  

But just knowing you have gas versus water - or both isn't enough to protect your facilities from fires.  You need to have the right fire alarms and smoke/heat detectors.  The alarm devices themselves make a huge difference and the sensitivity is key to effectively managing a dire situation.  But that's not all companies need to worry about.

 

Training is another important factor. Making sure your network operation center and data center technicians know how to effectively manage a smoke and fire situation is key to ensuring the equipment not only stays up but is protected.  Many hardware manufacturers will also want to see their gear to ensure that it doesn't happen to others - so not over taxing it with too much water or the wrong type of fire suppression fluid or gas is key to ensuring safety in the data center not just for your gear but all others as well.

For information about Fenwal Protection Systems and to learn more about the steps you should take to protect your data center, IT equipment and more visit www.fenwalfire.com or contact info@wiredre.com for a consultation to ensure you install the right solution. 

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