Green Data Centre

With only one other facility currently being built in Canada and only a handful in existence around the world, the concept of a green data centre is certainly one of a kind. Enter the National Consulting Service (NCS) Network, a national IT consulting service with professionals working out of field offices in British Columbia and Nova Scotia.

Providing a full range of services in the information technology industry, the NCS Network founded a separate entity called the Green Data Centre (GDC) in Truro in 2006. The professionals at GDC offer solutions to businesses looking to reduce their power costs and store their IT equipment or data in a more environmentally responsible way.

Traditional data centres house important data in computer servers and use enormous amounts of energy to keep the climate temperature-controlled and the equipment from overheating.

So what makes a green data centre different? According to Emerich R. Winkler Jr., Chief Technology Officer of the Green Data Centre, it's a combination of LEED certified building materials which provide zero heat or cold transfer through the walls, an innovative water cooling project that reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and environmentally friendly components. All of this adds up to a power reduction of at least 40 per cent.

The green components include IBM's new high density servers that consume less power, yet hold more computers; and Sun Microsystems new desktop computer, the Thin Client, which uses only four watts of power per hour. The average desktop consumes 150 watts hourly. The combination of these cutting edge technologies means that less power is used, less heat is produced by the machines, and subsequently less air conditioning is required, which lowers the power costs yet again. It's literally a green domino effect.

Winkler is quick to say that his company hasn't invented anything new. The innovation lies in bringing two great products together. "It's about picking the best of what each company does really well and offering it as a package to our clients through the Green Data Centre," he says. "As a result, our clients are decreasing their environmental impact and actually increasing the amount of computing they can do."

In a market place that's currently saturated with green, you might expect that clients would be required to pay extra for this kind of service. You'd be wrong. Winkler says that the savings in power directly correlate to a savings for their clients.

It's what businesses around the world are crying out for. In an era of increasing oil, gas, and power costs, the notion of actually paying less is enticing. There's also the thorny problem of power outages occurring with more regularity world-wide. "The United States is in urgent need of an alternative to their existing data centres," says Winkler adding that American data centres are consuming so much power that any surrounding residential neighbourhoods routinely go dark. "It's projected that by 2010, most of the US data centres will be out of power."

It's no wonder, then, that Winkler and his colleagues are ramping up a marketing plan to pitch to those south of the border. But it's not only Americans who have to worry about power issues. Right here in Nova Scotia, a gridlock has developed in downtown Halifax that in some areas leaves little room for new businesses. "If we want new businesses to come into the region, we have to solve this problem," says Winkler.

To that end, GDC has been spending a lot of time talking to government, corporations, and institutions on the benefits of greening their business practices in order to reduce power consumption. "Businesses really need to start looking at changing their policies – they have to be more energy conscious and more socially responsible." Winkler and his colleagues educate companies on the routine, but incredibly wasteful, three-year throw away cycle of desktop computers and counsel them on the wisdom of investing in green desktops in order to enjoy huge savings on future power bills.

Winkler says there are two main ways that GDC can help businesses use less energy and save money. The first is the option of storing data at the LEED-certified facility of the Green Data Centre, scheduled to open its doors in the fourth quarter of 2009. For the last two years, a test facility - currently at full capacity - has proven to clients and the public that a 40 per cent savings in power is achievable.

The other option for busy executives is to have the GDC folks come to their workplace and provide an environmental IT audit. This unique feature helps clients green their own data centres, says Winkler. "We tell them exactly what they need to go green and save money. It's very powerful."

Winkler sees his company as a true leader where environmental consciousness and IT meet up. And he's proud that the Green Data Centre facility can call Nova Scotia home. "I love that Nova Scotia gets to be put on the map," he says. "People can say, 'This is where one of the world's only green data centres is located.'"

Born and raised in British Columbia, Winkler chose Nova Scotia as the province to expand the NCS Network to five years ago and it's here that the idea for the Green Data Centre was born. "Nova Scotia businesses have been very open to all of our ideas," he says. "The people in the business community here are good at sharing information."

In addition to soaking up the natural beauty of the province and enjoying the relatively low property rates, one of Winkler's big dreams is to reinforce the provincial government's message that Nova Scotia is indeed open for business. "We don't outsource to India, we believe in our local talent in the province. We're really trying to push the envelope and show that you can do business in Nova Scotia." 
 

Feature story written by Renée Hartleib