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Inside the expanding E3 Networks datacentre

We went along to the E3 Networks datacantre in Alexandria, Sydney to catch up on its expansion plans.

on Feb 23 2010 1:04PM

Blade servers in the Sydney Pegasus Data Centre.

E3's Sydney Pegasus Data Centre is located amongst some industrial giants in Alexandria. Like most DC's, there is little signage out front and you would have no idea what's behind those walls...

E3 Networks' Jon Eaves points at panels on the outside walls which need to be removed every time new infrastructure needs to be installed on the second floor. There are plans for a lift here... but have you ever dealt with a local council in Sydney? We might be waiting a while...

Stacks a' racks. This shot was taken inside Suite One - a 60 square metre room consumed by a large APC pod, already full up with some kit E3 has transferred across from its racks within the nearby Global Switch data centre.

There is some pretty high density compute power here. E3 has been able to stack far more server power in each cabinet – with the same amount of kit that required six cabinets at Global Switch crammed into three and a half here.

This is Suite Two - it was booked off the plan by digital film production house Dr D. We watched as contractors working for Dr D put together a pod for its supercomputing cluster which will be used to render scenes from Happy Feet 2 and Max Max 4.

This pod comes fresh out of the box.

Kitting out the pod with power.

The pod.

Still in Suite 2 - here Jon Eaves explains the modular fashion in which DR D's pod will be cooled - as each cabinet requires in-row cooling, you simply attach the hose on the corresponding chiller pipe, pull a lever and hey presto!

This is Suite Three - about 110 square metres. The first 20 racks worth of cabinets are cooled and ready to go. But then the customer toured the facility, did their sums and asked if they could now take the whole room. We've since figured out who this customer is, but we're still not allowed to name them. But I have a feeling their CEO, well known to us, will be on the phone soon. :)

The upper floor of the Sydney Pegasus data centre could not be completed before the lower floors open. Nevertheless, around half of this space has already been sold off the plan.

E3 calls this a "Tier 3" data centre - that of course means that redundancy is the name of the game. This automatic transfer switch does - well - what it says it does. If the power fails in the upstairs suite, it automatically switches to power sourced from the downstairs suites, and vice versa. We'd have some nice shots of the UPS/battery room too if our photographer Munir hadn't been so entranced with taking shots of the pods! He'll learn in time.

Eaves has now taken an option on this cavernous, aircraft-hangar sized space to expand the Sydney Pegasus data centre even further. We're looking at 1000 square metres of raw space, 400 squares in the plant room to the right. It boasts a loading dock out front and substation out the back. Its a substantial risk for Eaves - but with the latest editions to Equinix and Global Switch selling fast, and his existing suites selling out before he even completes them, its a risk he's willing to take. “If I don’t sell upstairs [suite four] by June, I have misjudged the market,” Eaves told iTnews. “I am getting tenders in of 50 cabinets and 100 cabinets at a time. One tender was for 25 racks at 30kW".

Now we're up on the roof. On the floor you can see concrete plinths in place to take ths stress of some rather large air conditioning units (four x 481 kW units) being shipped and flown in from Europe to cool the data centre. To the left of shot is a temporary 750 kVA generator, flown up from Melbourne until two big 2-megawatt generators arrive.

Here you can see E3's temporary generator, plus plinths in place to hold four 481 kW chillers due for arrival in the coming months.

Jon Eaves explains Emicon's version of free cooling - when the temperature drops below 15 degrees celsius, the compressors within the refridgeration unit automatically turn off.

Within days of our tour, one of the said 481 kW chillers arrives. Now here's the great thing about buying four large, expensive free cooling units at once. When the supplier says we'll ship them, you can turn around and say - "You know, customers are already moving in. Can you fly one in?" This rather heavy piece of kit arrived on a 747 jumbo. Wish we'd got a shot of that!

The chiller gets craned onto the roof...

Touchdown! The chiller lands next to the data centre's temporary generator.

About the best photo we've ever taken of cables. Nice.

OK, this one is nicer.

Blade servers in the Sydney Pegasus Data Centre.

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Video: E3's ever expanding Sydney Pegasus data centre E3 builds high density data centre in Sydney

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