Penn State Plans Second Data Center
Penn State University has finalized plans
for a new data center at its University Park campus to provide high-performance
computing and data storage for research and education.
The research-intensive university has been expanding its use of technology,
leading to the need for another data center. "Advanced computational models
employing big data are now commonplace across academic disciplines, with
advances in virtually all fields dependent upon cyberscience," said Neil
Sharkey, vice president for research at Penn State, in a prepared statement.
Construction of the university's first data center, located at the Penn State
Hershey Medical Center, began in January. When both centers are completed, they
will each back up to the other to provide data protection and continuity of
service in the case of a disaster.
The University Park data center will serve a 1.75 megawatt load initially,
with the option to add another megawatt within the building's initial footprint
and future expansion to at least 8 megawatts on the site. The university will
consolidate many individual servers across the University Park campus into the
new data center. Moving them to the new center, where they can share power and
cooling services, will result in approximately 80 percent greater energy
efficiency. The facility itself will be very energy efficient, as is the Hershey
data center.
The data center will use a three-stage process to achieve the greatest energy
efficiency possible. The first stage will use heat exchangers to circulate
indoor air; the second stage will spray water on the heat exchangers to reduce
the temperature of the incoming air; and the third stage will use mechanical cooling
with compressors only as required, according to the university. The center will
also use "hot- and cold-aisle containment to segregate the hot air ejected by
the equipment from the cool air circulating in the center," stated a news
release from the university. The projected power usage effectiveness (PUE)
rating of the University Park data center will be 1.19, compared to a national
average data center PUE of 1.7.
According to the university. the projected total budget for the new data
center is $58 million.
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at leilameyer@gmail.com.