The Mayor of Wakefield, Councillor Heather Hudson cut the ribbon alongside Node4’s MD, Andrew Gilbert, at the event which was attended by around 100 invited customers and friends of the company, including special guests from the world of British Superbikes, Chris Walker and his team from Rob Mac Racing.
The new tier 4 standard facility is now officially open as the first customers move servers into DC3 this week. The company is pleased that a substantial amount of the 450 rack capacity has already been sold.
“DC3 is the next step in the development of Node4’s vision to be recognised as a leading data centre provider in the UK. The location of DC3 just outside the large city of Leeds helps us to expand our ever-growing customer base into the north of the UK.
“DC3 also allows us to provide a reliable and resilient disaster recovery solution not only to new customers, but also to existing customers at our Derby site to take advantage of the two locations,” comments Node4 Business Development Director, Paul Bryce.
DC3 is one of the first in the country to combine 2 of the latest energy saving technologies throughout the site: cold aisle containment and free cooling chillers. By using these methods, Node4 hope to make DC3 one of the most energy efficient data centres in Europe.
Cold aisle containment is still a new but relatively simple idea to get the best efficiency from air conditioning units, ensuring that air at the most optimum temperature flows through the servers. Ultima Compact Freecool air conditioning units from Airedale International have been chosen to ensure that sound and vibrations are kept to a minimum, which in turn maximises the energy efficiency of the units without compromising the capacity.
As the company moves forward Node4 plan to work with customers and partners to make the most of the green initiatives at DC3 as every business begins to take steps towards making their own business carbon efficient.