The heart of data

Remarkable and secured
NEXTDC’s B2 facility is the second NEXTDC data center to be built in Brisbane, the most modern in the city; and, let’s be honest; it stands out from the crowd. It’s also a bit like Fort Knox. Security cameras are on every corner, you must be identified by Security prior to entering the front door, and once you arrive at reception, they take your ID and replace it with a Visitor’s Pass. There’s even a bullet resistant chamber that takes you from the waiting area into the data hall itself, where you are weighed and filmed. It might seem crazy at first sight, but there’s no doubt all of this security is essential. For a number of major corporations, NEXTDC is their lifeline, and the engineering and design behind B2 can mean the difference between their IT platform’s success and failure. Chief Operating Officer Simon Cooper explains the “behind the scenes” of this incredible data center – the first of its kind in Australia. And why it’s so important.

“A data center is where your critical company IT infrastructure, and more importantly, your company data is hosted. This can be anything from your email to finance systems to your web presence. 15 to 20 years ago that was all on some hardware that you bought yourself and stored in a cupboard in your office building. But those cupboards weren’t designed for security, the heat, or the power, and the hardware would expand, get out of control and become highly susceptible to breaches,” he says. “The need for somewhere companies can store their data securely is growing exponentially, particularly with the rapid adoption of clouds. Large scale companies, like Amazon Web Services and Microsoft, build infrastructure for you and you just rent it from them, rather than buying and operating your own IT. But the hardware that is in the cloud still needs to physically live somewhere. And that’s what a data center does.” While some large-scale companies, such as banks, still build their own data centers, a large number of organisations use a third-party data center that specialises in delivering unparalleled levels of reliability and security – NEXTDC.

Colour-coded and revolutionary
NEXTDC has two buildings in Brisbane, as well as others in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Perth. And while some of the other data centers are much larger than B2 (B2 has a 6MW capacity, whereas their second site in Melbourne has 40MW), there are a few things that set B2 aside as revolutionary, which simply enhances the importance of this colorful building.

The most noticeable aspect of B2 is the color scheme - bright red, yellow, blue and orange; unique to this center. According to Simon, the reasoning behind it is actually very simple. “Everything has a purpose. Blue is the cold air side of the data hall, red is where the hot air goes. The yellow tray is for fiber, the blue and orange ducts carry diverse power supplies from elsewhere in the building. “It was important to design the building so that it operates independently in case of instances of power issues in the neighbourhood, for example, but you also design the buildings to flush out the inevitable human errors – and color coding helps to achieve that,” he says.

8 seconds to take full load  
The biggest challenges were NEXTDC’s stringent and specific technical requirements. At NEXTDC, the switch room is where the power and generators connects to the building. In here is a Rotary Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS), which provides a 15 second ride-through for the generators to start up, synchronise and take full load, should the power supply to the building be compromised. “We needed to be synchronized and take full load in under 12 seconds contractually. We actually achieved eight seconds on the test bed in the UPS manufacturer’s facility in Germany,” he explains.

B2 currently has three mtu gensets on site, with the space for seven – allowing the expansion of power as the data center grows. Each generator at B2 can support 1.637MW, which is generally enough to support the center as it stands, and having three on board means there is always a back-up. Simon says this is imperative to successful operations. “We work on the premise that one of them will fail from a reliability perspective,” he says. “Having three on-site always ensures we have enough power ready to go. And as the customers fill the racks, and draw the power they need, we’ll deploy more as we need them.”

So why did NEXTDC choose to work with Penske?
“The Penske team was super reactive to all of our requirements; figuring out how to minimize noise, minimize pollution, different modes we could use. They understood, commercially and project-wise, how we need to behave and they offered us a level of commitment that no one else seemed to offer. “We wanted to be able to access generators whenever we need them, and we wanted someone who is committed to data centers. By using a big manufacturer like Rolls-Royce with its’ mtu products, we knew we were getting a level of serious commitment. They understood our business model, and they’re willing to work with us today, and in future.” Penske and Rolls-Royce have already been announced as preferred supplier to NextDC for their Generation 3 sites. Talking about the future, what does the future hold for data centers? Steve says times are changing and Penske and Rolls-Royce must change with them.

Sustainability gains in importance
“We are seeing disruption in all industries. There is certainly a drive towards cleaner, greener energy solutions, and I think we will see alternative fuel sources become more prevalent in the coming years. The Penske organisation will need to adapt to the changing market to stay at the top of the pack in Australia – we're very much aware of this and are keeping our finger on the pulse, providing our customers with innovative solutions in all industries we operate in.”