June 12, 2008 – (HOSTSEARCH.COM) – IBM (http://www.ibm.com) is helping gigaCENTER build Canada's largest green data center, it was announced yesterday. The companies have signed an agreement to help build the $CDN75 million ($US73 million) 150,000 square foot center in British Columbia with gigaCENTER Services Corporation, in partnership with RackForce Networks (http://www.rackforce.com/).
According to the companies involved, the data center will be “among the most efficient and ‘greenest’ large-scale data centers in Canada”. "We are building a data center with IBM in a safe and secure location to respond to growing issues about natural disasters such as earthquakes and floods," explained Tim Dufour, CEO of both RackForce and gigaCENTER. "This center will support the latest technologies using 'green' hydro-generated power and the most efficient, environmentally friendly design. The IBM design is calculated at a Power Usage Effectiveness rating of 1.38, which will mean our facility will be among the most efficient in the industry."
The center will include power and cooling capabilities to support a variety of technologies from high-density blade servers to mainframes and is being built using IBM's “modular approach”. The center will take three years to build with the first phase opening December 2008.
"A year ago when IBM launched Project Big Green, one of its goals was to help identify ways to optimize data center usage and reduce energy consumption needs," explained Vice President, Global Site and Facilities Services at IBM, Steve Sams. "This new data center is an example of this initiative. By offering 'green' colocation and data center services, gigaCENTER and IBM will enable enterprises to meet their corporate and IT environmental goals."
RackForce provides green data center infrastructure and network services from its facilities in British Columbia, Canada. gigaCenter Services Corporation designs, constructs and operates “premium green data centers”. gigaCENTER will provide power and cooling capabilities to support a variety of technologies including high density blade servers, virtualized server clusters and mainframes.
