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  • Data Centre

What is a Data Centre?

A Data Centre is a central location where computer systems and associated components are housed. It includes computing servers, hard drives for data storage, cooling systems, back-up power supplies, electronic security equipment and a robust internet connection for communication. They house email systems, web pages, phone systems, security systems and are typically the infrastructure that enables all of our modern forms of communications.

How do we use it?

Our Data Centre is a tool that enables Earth Rangers to be increasingly productive while minimizing energy consumption. Cisco EnergyWise servers and switches intelligently route and direct traffic for our email, phone, video, integrated building automation and services. Despite this, our 10 m2 room consumes 10% of the energy used by the building, reinforcing the need to carefully manage IT services and the increasing number of devices that connect to our network.

How does it make us more sustainable?

The Data Centre houses our office support systems efficiently while keeping our data secure, yet available, when and wherever we need it. It also enables us to be more efficient in how we collaborate with each other and our partners. New collaboration tools like Cisco TelePresence allow us to collaborate with our partners while avoiding travelling time, expense and the resulting carbon emissions.

Data Centre image gallery

90 percent less
90 percent less

Modern data centres utilize the most efficient storage and processing hardware, with properly sized back-up power and cooling infrastructure to minimize operational impacts.

Cables
Cables

Hundreds of kilometers of Ethernet cable connect phones, computers, displays and building systems to the network connections in the data centre. Cable management is critical for troubleshooting.

Cooling
Cooling

A computer room air conditioner (CRAC) removes heat from the computers to prevent overheating and premature failure. This cooling accounts for almost half of the energy consumed by the data centre.

Phones
Phones

Voice over internet protocol (VoIP) phones located throughout the building are patched into the phone system in the data centre.

Rob DiStefano
Rob DiStefano

Our IT department manages the communication and maintenance of our data systems, and has won numerous awards for their innovative practices.

Server tower
Server tower

Careful orientation of data centre hardware allows cold air conditioned air to be sucked into the front of the racks and exhausted out the back. These hot and cold aisles increase the efficiency of the cooling system.

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Did you know?

  • How we process data

    Our Data Centre is only 125 square feet, yet it accounted for 12% of the energy consumption of the entire building in 2012. This figure does not include desktops, monitors, phones or printers (distributed office components). This number is actually quite low, considering the processing and storage capacity of our systems.

    What is unique about the way we process data is that we are heavily virtualized. What this means is that instead of running one server at low capacity for each computer required to run a service, we run many computers in a virtual environment on a single piece of hardware at high capacity. This means that the air conditioning loads are lower, the amount of physical infrastructure is less and there is thus less maintenance required. We currently run 22 virtual computers on each blade server.

    Our hard drives are also quite efficient. They prioritize where data is stored on the disk, placing more commonly accessed data in areas that are easier for the equipment to read, increasing the speed at which data is accessed and reducing the power required to accomplish these frequent tasks.

  • Hot aisle/cold aisle arrangement

    Air conditioning a Data Centre is critical to keep the equipment cool and running smoothly. Our Data Centre is arranged in a “hot aisle/cold aisle” arrangement, where cool air is sucked into the front of the racks and exhausted out the back of the rack, having absorbed heat from the equipment. It is then run through the computer room air conditioner (CRAC) which moves the heat into glycol which is cooled by a fan on the roof.

    In 2012, air conditioning of the Data Centre accounted for 33% of the Data Centre load, or 4% of the entire building load. We have explored how to take advantage of advances in Data Centre cooling, and are planning to use in-row cooling (where the CRAC unit sits directly adjacent to the heat source), free-cooling (which will use cool Canadian air to cool the data centre when possible) and rejection of heat to the building in the winter or geothermal system in the summer. Concept designs from MCW indicate this could decrease the CRAC load by 50%.

Generously supported by:

With more than 60,000 employees worldwide, Cisco is the worldwide networking leader. Founded in 1984, Cisco has shaped the future of the Internet by creating unprecedented value and opportunity for customers, employees, investors and ecosystem partners – transforming how people connect, communicate and collaborate.

Cisco’s solutions portfolio spans industries and technology architectures, including retail, oil and gas, financial service, collaboration, enterprise networking, security, data centre and routing and switching. Cisco’s partner ecosystem includes strategic partnerships with Intel, IBM, SAP and NetApp.

Company profile

As the worldwide leader in networking, Cisco’s Smart + Connected Communities helps transform physical communities into connected communities that can help realize sustainable economic growth, enable environmental sustainability through resource management and operational efficiencies and enhance quality of life.

From next- generation networks to industry-leading mobility, cloud, and video, Cisco provides the integrated architectures that connect people, process, data, and things in the Internet of Everything.

Find out more at Cisco.com


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