Tier5's $100 Million Data Centre Facility Opens in Adelaide

Start-up data centre company, Tier5, launched a multi-million dollar facility in Adelaide which is the first centre in the world to utilise Dells’ third generation data centre technology, MDC.

The site, situated in a building which formerly housed the Mitsubishi manufacturing plant, provides 4000 square metres of data centre space which will be custom built as client demand requires.

This approach of building to specification was possible due to Dells latest modular data centre configuration which means a more efficient and flexible set-up, Tier5 CEO Peter Wildy told ARN.

“We wanted to build a facility that could have a tier 2, 3 or 4 module next to each other.

“Scability was important to us and we didn’t want to be spending hundreds of millions of dollars up front, we wanted to grow it and scale out as we needed”.

The new Dell offering consisted of cooling and power modules that snap together in a modular configuration.

Dell Australia & New Zealand MD, Joe Kremer, said the new product was launched after Dell identified a lack of capacity in the data centre market.

“Australia is experiencing a crisis with regard to data centre capacity. Billions are being spent at fever pitch as government and corporate organisations race to develop new facilities as older data centres run out of power and space and present an increasing drag on the environment and our valuable resources”.

Tier5 envisages that MDC will save its customers about $8 million a year in power costs.

The company plans to roll-out multi-tenant data centre facilities in other capital cities after the Adelaide launch, where it has demonstrated a need for new data centre facilities.

Tier5 founder, Marty Gauvin, told The Australian that he estimated the state’s data centre expenditure was $50 million a year.

“We think the data centre market in South Australia is worth about $50m a year but the interesting thing is we would actually see our facility as probably taking half of its revenue out of that demand and half of its revenue out of demand out of state”.

Tier5 would operate the facility as both owner/manager and wholesaler of space - dealing directly with clients requiring one megawatt or more, while smaller clients would go through a third party supplier.

The capacity for the facility was 8 megawatt and if all customers take-up Tier 3 configurations, the facility will cost $100 million to build.

It is understood that organisations that have shown interest in the facility include the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, Flinders University, Adelaide University, South Australia Health, IAG and Adelaide University.

Strategies and solutions for managing both in-house data centres and co-location environments will be shared at CeBIT Australia’s Future-Proofing your Data Centre 2011 in February.

The program will showcase case studies about cost-effective and innovative data centre management and reveal the latest technology and solutions currently available.

The event takes place 14 – 15 February in Sydney. More information at www.cebit.com.au/datacentres.
 

Tesla Opens Model S Facility, Talks Model X [VIDEO]

by Zach McDonald

In a ceremony yesterday attended by California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Tesla CEO Elon Musk officially opened the factory that will be the birthplace of thousands of Model S sedans per year. Located in Fremont, Calif., the 5.2-million-square-foot former NUMMI facility is scheduled to begin production in mid-2012, with a starting capacity of about 7,000 vehicles annually-though Tesla says it hopes to raise that number to 20,000 after the first year. Only about 20 percent of the factory's space will be utilized initially, giving the company plenty of room to grow as it unveils new models and increases sales. Since Tesla only paid $42 million for the both the factory and millions of dollars in equipment that were left behind when Toyota shuttered it last year, starting out with too much space wasn't a problem. After a few words of reflection and thanks, Musk raised the curtain on the plant's new signage and huddled with a few members of the assembled media. Among the topics of discussion were the Model S's battery technology, Tesla's planned Model X electric SUV, and the Chevy Volt, which Musk took the opportunity to both chide and take credit for. For all his detractors, you certainly can't say that the man doesn't know how to deliver a good quote from time to time: On the Model X: "I'm hopeful we will unveil a prototype toward the end of next year. When it will go into production is harder to predict because we want to make sure the Model S production line is operating smoothly before we introduce another variant... But certainly [within] two years when we start Model S production, we will have the Model X." On the Model S's battery: "For the Roadster we use an almost unmodified laptop cell, but for the Model S it is actually a highly modified cell... it's an 18650 cell, so the external form factor is the same so that we can take advantage of the economies of scale of 18650 production, but internals are quite different." On the Volt: "That approach is what it is, it's a hybrid...it's actually similar to an amphibian. In the transition form the oceans to land, there were a lot of amphibians, but now there's not that many amphibians... There's a medium-term role for a plug-in hybrid, but in our view not a long-term role. On Tesla's legacy: "I think I'll be pretty happy if they say that Tesla helped to accelerate the transition to sustainable transportation by five years, maybe as much as ten years. You know, the Volt is because of Tesla. I'm not sure if you're aware of that, but Bob Lutz does credit Tesla with being the reason for getting the Volt program going." Reprinted with permission from PluginCars

Post originale: http://featured.matternetwork.com/2010/10/tesla-opens-model-s-facility.cfm