Features of the Data Center
- An ample supply of clean and stable power that meets our 99.9% Uptime guarantee.
- Fast fiber optics with direct peers to major network access points with mass volumes of reliable bandwidth.
- N+1 redundancy on power and cooling within the data center facility.
- Fully redundant GE Power Generators
- Carrier grade 48VDC power and grounding systems
- Highest level of security to meet the high demands for compliance hosting (HIPPA, SOX, SAS70).
- Redundant Liebert Air handlers and management systems
- Dual FM-200 gas and VESDA early smoke detections systems
- Video Surveillance, card and biometric access control systems and proximity/motion detectors
The Network Operation Center
Security and monitoring of the data center takes place from the Network Operation Center. From this location, data center engineers monitor security, cooling, power, and network subsystems.The Data Center Facility
Entry into to data center is protected by a "Man Trap" that requires key card and biometric hand scans for entry. The Man Trap is protected by bullet proof glass and monitored with security cameras.A 400-ton coolant system provides enterprise level cooling and fresh air distribution throughout the data center.
Cooling inside a data center is one of the most important aspects of maintaining reliable managed hosting servers. Maintaining a 70 degree or less temperature inside the data center allows servers to run cooler and perform faster at higher availability. Specifically, cooler temperatures reduce the risk of over heating and hardware failure.
Raised floors have traditionally been used in data center rooms for cable management, but they reduce air flow making it harder to maintain consistent cooling. This data center was built without “raised” floors and the cabling is neatly run overhead. With a ceiling almost 15 feet high, large ducts provide direct cool air from above the racks of servers inside the data center.
The aisles of the data center are designed with optimal air flow in mind as well. Each aisle is hot or cold in an alternating pattern according to the direction the servers are racked. Using this alternating scheme and hot and cold aisles, cold air from the cold aisle is vented through the front of the server and exited via the rear of the server to the hot aisle. Warm air from the hot aisle is pulled back into the cooling system to be circulated. This design allows your server to enjoy a cool 70 degrees 24 hours a day, 7 days a week!
Data Center Power
Through special relationships with the public utility company the Data Center has a secure and reliable power source capable of simultaneously powering up to 25,000 servers.The data center is designed with N+1 power redundancy, which means not only all the power subsystems have automatic failover, but a 3rd unit is kept onsite as a cold spare.
The Data Center utilizes a special cabinet design built for enterprise level service. Two 20AMP circuits are provisioned to each cabinet, each coming from a divergent power source. On the end of the every aisle you notice these strips terminate inside of the overall breaker box. Each one of these power strips are fed by an individual breaker, each one of these breakers is on a different bus on either end of the row.
Cabling, Network, Cabinets
The internal network provides 100MB (Mega Bit) service to each of our managed dedicated servers and this is directly connected to a full GIGABIT core network. Cabling, fiber optics, and power are all run overhead, utilizing best practices in a telecom system data center. Every room in the Data Center is fed by two unique transformers which are also part of a redundant power supply chain.The Data Center Core Network
Access to this room his limiited to only advanced engineers. Fiber optics enter this room to feed the Cisco 12008 GSR routers that power the network. This room maintains the same 70 degree temperature and ultra redundant cooling and power units. Key-carded caged areas provide additional Multi Level security; allowing the equipment to be segregated securely.The Data Center is fed by dark fiber directly to Level 3 in Des Moines, Iowa. From Des Moines, Level 3 provides a virtual E-WAN service to the Equinix building in Chicago. This virtual E-WAN service allows direct connectivity to the bandwidth provider Hurricane Electric. Powered only by the top transit and IP providers, the Data Center is able to provide low latency worldwide.
The Data Center network is also fully redundant, featuring divergent paths that never exceed over 50% network utilization directly to the internet. Divergent paths include dark fiber, OC-48 Sonet Connections, and multiple high speed connections to different providers.
The Power Room
Inside this room Dual UPS units act as backup power in the event of a primary failure. These units also have the N+1 method applied with a cold stand-by available in the event of failure. The power room also has air protection or air conditioning. For the power room, there are dual, air conditioning systems. UPS inside the data center is built to maintain up to 120 minutes of supported power.UPS units are automatically configured to switch over to the diesel generators if more time is needed. By utilizing the N+1 on every component, the data center has the capability of being backed and strives for 100% uptime. The data center has been rated to have less than a 1% chance of complete power failure in a 20 Year period.