Data centers are one of the largest consumers of electricity in the U.S. and are one of the biggest factors driving new power plant construction. Energy costs for power and cooling can be as much as 60% of the total cost in building and operating a data center. Estimates are that by 2020 data centers will cost businesses $13 billion a year in electricity costs. How are San Jose colocation providers meeting the power and cooling challenge?

San Jose Colocation Data Centers Realize the Importance of Redundancy

Having a dedicated substation isn’t enough, as San Jose discovered in 2013.

In what appeared to have been a well-planned attack, someone cut telephone cables and gunmen fired on an electrical substation for 19 minutes before disappearing.

Seventeen transformers were destroyed. It cost $15 million dollars and took 27 days to make full repairs. Blackouts were avoided, but the incident verified the energy backup policies colocation providers in San Jose have in place.

San Jose Colocation Data Center Utilizing Sunny California

The largest data center provider in the world, Equinix, contracted with SunEdison of California for enough solar energy to power its colocation data centers in San Jose.

In fact, the plant will produce enough energy to offset the energy consumed by Equinix’s entire California operations.

Even though it is difficult in California to source renewable energy, Equinix feels the challenge will be worth it due to the rising costs of electricity, and to combat environmental pollution.

Colocation Cooling Innovations

Another San Jose colocation data center provider working for better cooling efficiency is Infomart (formerly Fortune Data Center).

In 2009, Infomart retrofitted its San Jose data center by removing 40,000 square feet of raised flooring with a slab floor and a design to drop cool air from above onto the servers.

Vinyl curtains were placed between the top of the racks and the ceiling to prevent warm air mixing back with the cool air. Infomart was able to drop its PUE (power usage effectiveness rating) to 1.37 at full load.

As a result, Infomart was the first multi-tenant data center in the U.S. to receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification. Instead of its clients paying a green premium, Infomart passes on 100% of any savings from energy costs to its tenants.

Data centers use a significant amount of water to keep servers cool. One 15 megawatt data center can use up to 360,000 gallons a day.

Infomart is leading the way in using recycled water in its San Jose data center. In building the infrastructure to allow the use of “gray”, or non-potable, water, Infomart expects to save up to one million gallons of potable water per month.

The Bottom Line

The availability of power and the need for adequate cooling are critical elements in the operation of a data center. Colocation data centers in San Jose have shown reliability and innovation in how they meet the challenges.

Do you feel that colocation data centers in San Jose are meeting power and cooling needs adequately? Let us know your thoughts in the Comments box below.

And if you are in charge of marketing or sales for a San Jose data center and would like to learn about marketing more effectively, be sure to download your free copy of our eBook on “Lead Generation Best Practices for Colocation Data Centers.”