Fujitsu launches green data center

Fujitsu has opened a £44 million (US$88 million) green data center in a former warehouse, which it claims will use half the energy of current data centers.

The site, 35 miles from London, is aimed at providing new capacity for hard pressed IT organizations in the capital.

Technology deployed to improve energy efficiency includes:

-- Evaporation towers and heat exchangers which more efficiently remove heat than traditional air conditioning systems

-- Heat pumps that pre-heat incoming fresh air to operational temperatures as it enters the data center, reusing heat extracted from the server halls.

-- Variable fans and pumps in the cooling system can save energy by delivering the actual cooling needs of the server halls.

In addition Fujitsu has deployed a Diesel Rotary UPS system to provide backup power, which it claims uses less electricity than current UPS systems.

An IT optimization program for Fujitsu clients will also reduce the power consumption of systems housed in the new data center.

Fujitsu's expects that when fully operational the data center and the IT optimization programs will save annually enough electricity to power up to 6,000 homes, equivalent to 10,000 tons of carbon dioxide.

The building has been rated as Tier III rating (typically 99.98% site availability), by the independent Uptime Institute.