The building housing the centre was built at the time of the New Economy hypes around the turn of the millennium, but was never brought into operation at all, since the builder went bankrupt at that time. In 2006, a group of three experienced Internet specialists who wanted to start up a data centre of their own, got together. Laurens Rosenthal, one of the founders, was in charge of innovation. The Group acquired the unfinished data centre and started a fundamentally new type of planning of technology.

The core idea was to build a powerful and energy efficient data centre. The fact that this was a startup was also an advantage, since it made them independent of “tried-and-true technologies”, and they could plan on a virtually fresh field, as it were. They were cooperating with the Dutch Organisation for Applied Scientific Research (TN O), but also with many specialists from the industry. In the course of planning, it rapidly became clear that the entire infrastructure already installed had to be called into question. Thus, the existing uninterruptable power supply (UPS) was considered too inefficient, and replaced.

Rosenthal remembers: “There was a UPS in the infrastructure which had already been installed. Unfortunately, it did not meet our expectations in the efficiency test. It also proved to be very maintenance intensive and not reliable enough. We ended up dismantling and replacing this UPS. Today, EvoSwitch has a UPS with delta conversion and a degree of effectiveness of approx. 97%.

The development of EvoSwitch was carried out in three phases. The first 2,000 sq. m. with some 900 racks were brought into operation at the beginning of 2007. Another area of equal size could be brought into operation in the summer of 2008. Finally, 5,000 sq. m. are to go into operation in the third and another 6.000 sq. m. in the fourth phase. The separation from cold and hot aisles is important for the overall efficiency of the data centre, because only by means of the consistent separation of the cold and hot aisles do the high temperatures become possible. The cold aisles are provided with air of 24°C, in the hot aisles, temperatures of approx. 35°C prevail. In turn; only these high temperatures in the hot aisles permit a major share of the cooling to be accomplished freely rather than via chillers. The COP value of the cooling could in this way be increased to a value of about 9, i.e., for every kW of electrical power output, 9 kW of heat energy could be removed.

EvoSwitch has had a free cooling system installed – an energy-saving cooling strategy, in which cool outer air is skilfully used. Given the temperatures prevailing in the Netherlands, the compressor is necessary for only about 200 hours per year. Currently, EvoSwitch is developing and testing new methods of free cooling aimed at achieving a COP in excess of 20 when the last 5,000 sq. m. goes into operation.. the idea, says rosenthal, is “to use all the heat sinks that Mother Nature has given us in Holland.”

This continual improvement in cooling, together with an efficient UPS, make a continuous reduction in the PUE value possible. It was 1.8 at the time the system went into operation, the 1.6 mark was reached in the summer of 2008, and the target is 1.2 to 1.3 – a figure which is remarkable for such a large data centre.

Generally, co-location data centres have few possibilities of affecting the nature of the hardware installed, or its energy consumption. In order to nevertheless promote energy conscious behaviour on the part of the customers, EvoSwitch has installed electricity meters for each customer. The power consumption is not only measured separately for each rack, but is also billed separately for each customer as a supplemental item. For many new customers who were used to all-inclusive prices from their previous data centres, with a flat rate for energy, this involves some reorientation. Generally, however,
EvoSwitch has experienced appreciation of the extra invoice from its customers.

“And issues of efficient software, consistent virtualisation and efficient hardware components will be decisive for energy efficient data centres in future. Our role is to advise the customers, and support their learning on issues of energy efficiency,” says Rosenthal. On the customer side, Rosenthal is currently observing the “roll-out” of virtualisation. However, while interest in energy efficient hardware is growing, the availability of benchmarks and clear technical data is still limited.

Ultimately, the commitment of the three founders has been the key to driving the move towards energy efficiency. The issue is regularly mentioned at management and design meetings. In addition to the certifications under IS O 9,001 (quality management) and IS O 27,001 (IT security), they are currently seeking certification under IS O 14,001 (environmental management) as well. On the other hand, the proceedings for energy efficiency certification will only make sense for EvoSwitch if publicity makes them an important factor for customers.

EvoSwitch is a member of “The Green Grid”, and buys renewable power generated by wind, solar and biomass. To compensate for such non-sustainable energy consumption as emergency generating sets and company cars, EvoSwitch has initiated compensation projects together with the Climate Neutral Group. 

Facts & Figures

Operator: EvoSwitch
Site: Amsterdam
Area: 9,000 sq. m.
Server number: currently, 14,000 servers; goal, approx. 40,000 servers
Function: IT hosting for I nternet suppliers
Average server utilization, mid-2008: differs according to customer
Data centre infrastructure energy efficiency (DCI E), early 2007: 56% (PUE = 1.8)
DCI E 2008: 63% (PUE = 1.6)
Planned DCI E (final state): 83% (PUE = 1.2)
Energy consumption in 2007: 44,000,000 kWh