July 17, 2009 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) –
RackForce Networks today officially opened the first phase of its new multimillion dollar state-of-the-art GigaCenter™ in the heart of British Columbia, Canada. Built to be among the greenest and most advanced data centers in the world, using a scalable and highly efficient modular design, the GigaCenter™ will support demanding next-generation IT systems to a worldwide customer base.
Data centers in many areas around the world are powered by coal-fired or natural gas electrical generation plants, creating tremendous amounts of CO2 emissions as a bi-product of their power consumption. Tapping into British Columbia's abundant supply of clean hydroelectric power, the RackForce GigaCenter will produce less than 1/50th the carbon footprint compared to typical conventional data centers.
“We built the GigaCenter here in Kelowna because it’s one of the most stable and eco-friendly areas in North America,” said Tim Dufour, president and CEO of RackForce. “The highly advanced network and scalable infrastructure supports our customer’s most demanding computing needs, today and in the future, while contributing to their corporate environmental goals.”
Kelowna has been identified as one of the best locations in North America to build a data center because of its stable geographic location, temperate climate and extremely low risk of natural disaster. It's also easily accessed – Kelowna's international airport is well serviced with direct flights from most major cities including Vancouver, Calgary, Seattle and Toronto. The area’s prevalent tourist industry also provides an abundance of amenities to support the corporate IT traveller.
This first phase of the GigaCenter encompasses 30,000 square feet. Customers can secure space in increments as small as a single cabinet, up to dedicated rooms (called GigaVaults) ranging in size from 12 to over 170 cabinets. An additional 120,000 square feet is scheduled to be complete in 2011, which will make RackForce's GigaCenter one of the largest service provider data centers in North America.
Built with IBM's data center expertise, the RackForce GigaCenter utilizes innovative design features to support both current and future technologies including massive data storage, high density blade servers, virtualized computing clusters and mainframe systems.
“We are proud to have been involved with RackForce on this exciting project,” said John Ostrander, Vice-President of IBM Global Services. “The GigaCenter is a clear example of how Canadian companies continue to innovate and find new ways to improve global business practices, while reducing our impact on the environment.”
