AlfaTech Big Book: International Data Centers
AlfaTech is a consulting engineering firm offering a range of complementary services and expertise in multiple markets. Our services include: Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Design, Technology, Architectural Lighting Design, Commissioning and Energy Solutions, as well as Sustainability.
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INNOVATIVE IDEAS | INTEGRATED SOLUTIONS | SUSTAINABLE PARTNERSHIPS
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Company Profile
Engineering Services
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Project & Construction Management
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Data Center Philosophy
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Project Experience
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Company Profile
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C OMP A N Y P R O F I L E
OVERVIEW
Since its founding in 1987, AlfaTech has built a reputation for providing the most client–oriented engineering design solutions for the built environment. With over 200 employees in the United States, and an additional 6,400 resources worldwide through our partnership with RSBG global companies, we provide a broad range of service offerings and expertise for clients throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and Africa. Having resources to successfully complete projects through the whole process, from pre-design needs, design and engineering services, construction and project management and closeout commissioning and coordination. AlfaTech offers alternatives and solutions to accommodate a client’s budget, schedule, and value engineering criteria.
AlfaTech brings the following to our clients and projects:
• Proven track record – long term successful history with clients
• Experience in broad range of energy-efficient data center design for a variety of data center facility styles and client specific needs
• Proactive and engaged process management style—easily integrated into a client’s team
• On time and on budget results--no surprises
Federal Tax ID Number
77-0211171 61-519-4248
D&B number
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Confidential Data Center, all locations for this client are confidential
C OMPA N Y P R O F I L E
US San Jose, California
San Francisco, California Los Angeles, California Ventura, California San Diego, California Monrovia, California Atlanta, Georgia Edison, New Jersey
EUROPE Vienna, Austria Le, Denmark Paris, France Berlin, Germany
MIDDLE EAST Doha, Qatar Madiant Zayad, UAE Abu Dhabi, UAE
Al Ain, UAE Dubai, UAE Baghdad, Iraq Amman, Jordan
Bochum, Germany Frankfurt, Germany Hamburg, Germany
Munich, Germany Rostock, Germany Stralsund, Germany Ribnitz-Damgarten, Germany Wiesbaden, Germany Cologne, Germany Athens, Greece Madrid,Spain Zurich, Switzerland
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
AFRICA Beau Bassin, Mauritis Cairo, Egypt Algeria Libya Sudan
Istanbul, Turkey Birmingham, UK Bishop’s Strotford, UK Croydon, UK Edinburgh, UK Exeter, UK Leamington Spa, UK Leeds, UK London, UK Luton, UK
ASIA Brahmanbaria, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh Dehradun, India Delhi, India Gandhingar, India Mumbai, India New Dehli, India
Pune, India Rajkot, India
Maidenhead, UK Manchester, UK Nottingham, UK Stockport, UK Sunderland, UK Wakefield, UK
Visakhapatnam,India Manilla, Philippines Singapore, Singapore Bangkok, Thailand
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C OMPA N Y P R O F I L E
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02
Engineering Services
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S E R V I C E S
ARCHITECTURAL LIGHTING DESIGN Lighting and Lighting Controls Lighting Calculations
COMMISSIONING | ENERGY SOLUTIONS Early Quantifiable Energy Study Incentives
ARCHITECTURAL/ENGINEERING DESIGN LEADERSHIP Site Selection Master Planning
Customized ROI Calculations Sustainable Lighting Design Energy Savings Analysis Custom Lighting Fixtures Custom Lighting Fixtures Design
Energy Star® Assessments Retro-commissioning (RCx) Monitoring Brand Continuous Commissioning (MBCCx) ASHRAE Level 1, 2 and 3 Energy Audits Measurement and Verification (M&V) of installed projects Energy Modeling Net Zero Energy Budgeting HVAC/Chilled Water Plant Optimization
Design Management Design Coordination Contract Management Process/Financial Leadership
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN HVAC Heating Systems Water and Gas Cooling Systems / Chilled Water Dehumidification Systems Contamination Sensitive Areas Industrial Hygiene Systems Low Tolerance Temp Control Title 24 Analysis and Design Heat Recovery Systems Central Utility Plants Air Handlers HVAC System Controls PLC Programming Fire Protection and Plumbing ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN Power Systems
TECHNOLOGY DESIGN Low Voltage Design Audio Visual Design
Security Systems Design Architectural Acoustics Wireless Design & Modeling Distributed Antenna Systems (DAS) Integrated Building Management Systems BMS Network Integration Telco Facilities and Services Voice Systems and Applications Relocation & Data Center Migration Services Strategic Planning and Analysis Project Management Management Consulting SUSTAINABILITY Sustainability Planning (Organizational and Infrastructural) LEED / Green Building Consulting Masterplanning Life Cycle Cost Assessment Occupant Wellness and Comfort
PROCESS Industrial Waste Collection Acid Neutralization Bio-Kill Waste System Process Waste Containment Ultra pure De-ionized Water Systems USP Water WFI Specialty Chemicals Chemical Storage
Lab and Special Gas Systems Ultra High Purity Gas Piping
Emergency & Standby Power Lighting and Lighting Controls Security Systems 24 / 7 Power Systems (UPS) Power Monitoring Systems Toxic Gas Monitoring Graphic Control and Alarm Panels Grounding and Bonding
Bulk & Specialty Gases Toxic Materials Handling Code Compliance Process Distribution Piping Process Cooling Water Medical Gas Medical Vacuum Waste Anesthetic Gas Disposal system (WAGD) Dental Vacuum System Dental Water System
Façade Engineering CFD / Wind Studies Wind Studies Thermal Stratification Studies Energy Concept Studies
Energy Management Energy Conservation Fire Alarm Systems Public Address Systems Plug Loads Control
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S E R V I C E S
DESIGN SERVICES
AlfaTech strives to provide the most cutting-edge solutions to our clients needs in the most sustainable methods possible.
We provide a range of complementary services and expertise in multiple markets—all under one umbrella. This enables us to provide the most thoughtful engineering design and services that are environmentally conscious and innovative, hand-in-hand with the most forward--thinking solutions in technology and lighting design. We ensure our contribution to the built environment is flexible, sustainable, and lasting across all market segments we serve. Our expertise and services bring our data center clients back again and again. Our team has unmatched expertise in data center projects and has provided a myriad of services for some of most innovative data centers operating today, and for some of the industry’s highest profile Fortune 500 firms.
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S E R V I C E S
WEATHER ANALYSIS
High Dry Bulb Occurrences
AlfaTech provides weather analysis to review historical weather data to influence site selection, for HVAC equipment sizing, and for other critical building arrangement decisions. American Society of Heating Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) publish BIN, or analyzed “average” weather data, which is typically issued for airports and major metropolitan areas. ASHRAE also posts analyzed data for these sites such as extreme weather conditions that can be expected over a five-year period, a ten-year period, and on up to a fifty-year period. ASHRAE also publishes an Extreme Max Wet Bulb temperature which is important for design of any evaporative process such as cooling towers or evaporative cooling systems. The challenge with published data is that extreme weather conditions published by ASHRAE do not cover all cities and possible data center facility locations. Also, the extreme weather data represents the single worst-case conditions to be expected, but provides no information on how long that condition may last, or how often and how long weather conditions exist just below these extreme conditions. Through downloaded hour-by-hour weather data information, AlfaTech is able to provide additional insight into weather patterns, how long hot spells and cold spells tend to last, and the magnitude of these weather anomalies. We also use this information to confirm system sizing differences between sites due to weather conditions. As an example, through evaluating two sites less than 35 miles apart in the Portland, Oregon area of the US, it was determined that a cooling
tower selection for the western site location would require a cooling tower fan motor increase from 3 horsepower to 7.5 horsepower to meet the same indoor design conditions. These comparisons can provide insight into optimal site locations with respect to impacts as a result of weather. These analyses can review weather trends going back as far as recorded data can be sourced, in most cases up to 50 years in the past. This trend data can identify weather pattern changes that can occur due to urbanization such as converting open field to commercial developments and industrial usage. It can also provide information related to climate change which is affecting peak weather conditions. Through detailed review of this data, additional information can be provided to influence decisions on what worst case design condition should be included in the design. The design conditions published by ASHRAE and other resources provide single points of peak weather while the additional data collected and analyzed by AlfaTech can identify trends that can result in a more cost-effective design.
Duration
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S E R V I C E S
CFD / WIND ANALYSIS
In order to complete a design for advanced facilities, there are often requirements to validate the design approach using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models. CFD models can simulate a variety of design conditions for both interior and exterior airflow conditions. AlfaTech has developed modeling techniques for both interior and exterior airflow modeling scenarios. Exterior CFD models can be used to analyze a building’s performance under prevailing or common wind conditions (speed and direction). These exterior models can help to influence design of outside air intakes, exhaust or relief openings, pressure sensor locations, and orientation of buildings to achieve optimal air flow. A common use of exterior wind models for mission critical data center facilities is to confirm standby or emergency generator performance. Typical diesel generators draw in combustion air and exhaust the products of combustion which can range from 500°F up to 1,000°F. The exhaust plumes can, if improperly designed and arranged, be drawn into outside air intakes or otherwise artificially influence the performance of neighboring equipment. Due to the high temperature and relatively small volume of combustion air required, these plumes tend to rise rapidly and as such, may not impact surrounding equipment performance. In addition to combustion air, a
typical generator draws in and exhausts significant airflow for radiator cooling. These airflow rates can have a larger impact concerning performance of surroundings systems, and thus modeling is necessary to ensure required system performance is achieved. Through wind modeling on previous projects, AlfaTech has been able to advise on proposed equipment placement, building arrangements, recirculation concerns, fresh air flow, and other elements to create an optimized design. Interior CFD models can be used to model airflow within a data center. Particularly when an underfloor air plenum design strategy is used, an airflow model can assess the floor height, the impact of underfloor obstructions, and the placement of air handling systems. In addition, indoor CFD models can assess the flow of air at the server rows to address hot spots, hot air recirculation, dead zones, and proposed phasing strategies. Through the use of CFD, AlfaTech can help clients optimize their design to ensure proper performance and operation of the completed design.
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S E R V I C E S
BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING (BIM)
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a common tool referenced in the industry, but the concept covers many topics beyond just completing design in three dimensions as most people assume. 3D design is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the full power and potential of BIM. At AlfaTech, we have been leading the industry using BIM for 3D design efforts, initially through the use of AutoCAD MEP and more recently through the design tool Revit. Through the use of Revit, AlfaTech can coordinate the design elements for our mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and technology designs with the balance of the building design such as architectural and structural elements. Beyond the standard usage of BIM for 3D coordination, AlfaTech uses the Revit platform to define parameters in design elements that can further influence robustness of design. Through intelligent modeling, our Revit designs can adapt and change pathways and riser diagrams as the system designs change. Importing information from Excel or other database software can also allow for rapid updating of the building model elements. An updated building model can then be used to update system design elements, energy performance of the design, and to consider design options. Through integrated viewing and coordination software such as Navisworks, Revizto, and Fuzor, the model can be further coordinated to ensure a conflict-free design with optimum system and pathway designs. This software also allows for virtual reality reviews of the project design to allow for better visualization of the completed project.
Review of the proposed installations allows end users, maintenance staff, and other critical decision makers the opportunity to truly see and experience the completed arrangement in a way that renderings, section views, and elevations did not allow. AlfaTech continues to innovate in the area of BIM, and to influence the software providers and provide our extensive knowledge and experience as a benefit to our clients. This results in a better coordinated, optimized result for our clients.
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S E R V I C E S
INTEGRATED BUILDING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS ( IBMS )
The ‘Internet of Things’ (IoT) is creating new possibilities for building owners, product manufacturers and systems integrators, allowing the evolution of intelligent buildings to move at a rapid pace. IoT and analytics can be defined as a large number of data points brought together into a networked environment using one common Internet Protocol (IP) platform, allowing connected devices in a building to exchange and analyze information to optimize building and end-user efficiencies through automated controls. This evolution is how Smart Buildings are taking operational and energy efficiency to the next level through an Integrated Building Management Systems (IBMS) approach. The convergence of information technology (IT) systems that includes any use of computers, storage and networking devices and operational technology (OT), traditionally associated with manufacturing and industrial environments is reshaping how companies embrace IT/OT. Operational technologies seen in commercial office buildings consist of a number of facilities sub-systems including BMS, EMS, lighting controls, shade controls, security systems, conference room schedulers and more. Historically, all of these sub-systems operated independently of each other. Today we are seeing building sub-systems become network- enabled at an increased rate, creating a new generation of intelligent buildings. This transformation is placing new demands on the traditional corporate IT network, as all of these systems must communicate over a converged managed network. OT’s modernization through IT integration brings with it the required consideration of network and information security. Many OT systems were never
designed for network security, as a result, the risk of connectivity was not considered. Security breaches and threats have sharply increased both IT and facilities manager’s concern about allowing these ‘unknown’ devices on the corporate network. The vulnerabilities of OT systems can leave organizations and critical infrastructure at risk of industrial espionage and sabotage. IBMS is a network and applications architecture that enables IT/OT integration between facilities sub-systems through open protocols and open source application program interface (API). The key to successful intelligent buildings is to establish secure integration between sub-systems to enable collective monitoring, reporting, analytics and automation. A successful implementation can reduce cost by optimizing operational and energy efficiencies. These capabilities allow for more strategic space planning and enhance the employee experience and productivity. AlfaTech is uniquely positioned to guide and assist our clients through this complex process. With combined MEP and technology design and consulting services, we understand how to engineer these solutions from both the building facilities systems and the IT network, server and applications perspective. Intelligent Buildings require a close partnership and shared strategic vision between Facilities and IT. Through our experience and technical expertise, AlfaTech continues to guide clients through this evolution, helping them embrace and navigate the complexities of truly integrated building management systems.
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PROJECT &
Construction Management
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P R O J E C T & C O N S T R U C T I O N MA N A G EME N T
PROJECT DELIVERY
PRE-DESIGN Site Analysis/Selection Master Planning Project Delivery Method Design Team Selection Conceptual Design Entitlements Conceptual Estimates Conceptual Schedules DESIGN Programming Review Schematic Design Review Design Development Review Constructability Reviews Preliminary Budget Master Schedules Utility Company and Municipality Coordination
CONSTRUCTION Bid Advertising Contractor Prequalification Bid Analysis Contract Analysis Construction Management Project Controls Budget Management Schedule Management
At AT-PD we provide project and construction management services for private and public owners.
We act as advisors, owner representatives, project managers, program managers, design managers and construction managers.
We bring effective and proactive management techniques to the planning, design, and construction of projects from inception through completion for the purpose of controlling time, cost and quality expectations. We offer design and construction expertise that is not commonly possessed in-house. We have significant insight into the design and contracting industries as many of our team have worked for some of the most elite facilities organizations, architecture firms, and general contracting firms.
CLOSEOUT Commissioning Validation
Move-in Coordination Tele/Data Coordination O/M Documents Training Coordination Final Lien Releases
We don’t just manage construction; we lead the process for our clients.
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P R O J E C T & C O N S T R U C T I O N MA N A G EME N T
FULL RESPONSIBILITY ‘AT RISK’ PROJECT MODEL
Client
AT-PD (PM/CM)
Delivering services with this approach allows the client to remain involved at a level that best meets their needs but allows AlfaTech to provide a one-source solution providing project, budget, and schedule control. AlfaTech has full responsibility for the project coordination and financial control.
Move Coordination
Technology
Architectural Design (Lead)
Contractor
IT Design
Move Staff
Sub
MEP
Mover
IT Contractors
Structural
Sub
Sub
Other
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TYPICAL MODEL The Standard Delivery Method allows the client to maintain full control through direct issuance of PO’s to all contractors and consultants.
Client
AT-PD (PM/CM)
Move Coordination
Technology
Architectural Design (Lead)
Contractor
IT Design
Move Staff
Sub
MEP
Mover
IT Contractors
Structural
Sub
Sub
Other
Contractual Reporting Project Reporting
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International experience and expertise in the overall project + construction management and engineering design of data center facilities
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DATA CENTER
Philosophy
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D ATA C E N T E R P H I L O S O P H Y
DATA CENTER PHILOSOPHY
With the seemingly exponential explosion of data and the associated requirements for servers and storage, it isn’t surprising that many organizations, both public and private, are struggling to keep up with the ever-changing technologies and the immediate and constantly increasing requirements of IT and Facilities departments. AlfaTech has been on the frontlines of this trend for the past twenty years and has been a leader in the design and construction of state-of-the-art data center facilities. We implement the latest design methods for our clients to support emerging technologies and to assure energy efficiency and scalability for growth and changes in technology. We’ve made a corporate commitment to providing training and continuing education to a growing staff of engineers and project managers dedicated to the design and construction of data center facilities. Our esteemed team of professionals are educated in all areas of IT and Facilities operations and sustainable design for mission critical data center facilities, and are active members of the AFCOM, ASHRAE, The Green Grid, OpenCompute, 7x24 Exchange, SVLG and the USGBC. This commitment to continuous learning encourages growth and innovation to assure that our facilities are designed with the latest technologies, best practices, operational efficiencies and total cost of ownership in mind. Many members of our data center team were formerly employees in charge of IT and Facilities departments of large corporations, giving them a unique and practical perspective from which to interface with our client's management team, technical staff and end-users. These critical staff members are integral in bridging the gap between the facilities staff, IT staff and the executive leadership; bringing a common language and voice to all parties so each group is critical in assuring a successful program and implementing a solution that satisfies the current and future needs of the IT staff while providing clear and practical cost evaluations and controls to satisfy the fiscal constraints of the executive staff. Our firm’s commitment to designing cutting-edge data center facilities begins with a meeting-of-the-minds and is carried through the project’s completion and commissioning of the facility to assure everything is performing as intended and the facility meets or exceeds the design intent of the stakeholders. This is our Data Center Commitment and our commitment to our clients.
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D ATA C E N T E R P H I L O S O P H Y
DATA CENTER STRATEGY
Developing a Data Center Strategy is not about planning or designing a specific data center facility, rather it is about developing an understanding of why the Data Center(s) exist in the first place. Companies who experience rapid growth or those that have been in business for many years often find themselves with a fragmented data center portfolio. This can include multiple server rooms, labs housing production systems, multiple colocation facilities, etc. All of these locations were likely established to accommodate growing demands for data center capacity. Most companies with established data centers lack a formal strategy that defines how to provide the business with the agility it requires to enable growth while maintaining a cost-effective data center footprint. The development of true Data Center Strategy begins with executive sponsorship. Our process is intended to work with key stakeholders to establish meaningful priorities, goals and objectives that align with the business plan and strategy. Having a strategy in place provides objectivity when making value driven decisions. An effective strategy will leverage strengths and encourage collaboration across the company. One key goal of the Data Center Strategy development process is to establish common ground between all stakeholders by using a common language everyone understands. This process draws attention to the business needs and strategies rather than departmental or even individual preferences. The results of an effective strategy will optimize OPEX and CAPEX by minimizing non-performing assets and establish buy-in from the onset of future Data Center initiatives.
The key sections of a Data Center Strategy include:
Introduction
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Terms and Definitions Business Requirements
Strategy Challenges and Risks
Global Strategy Security Strategy Facility Definitions Platform Definitions
Service Level Agreements
Current Environment
• Data Center Procurement Options • Future Deployment Strategy • Hardware Planning Strategy • Capacity Planning and Forecast • Implementation Strategy • Revision History
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D ATA C E N T E R P H I L O S O P H Y
DATA CENTER PROGRAMMING
Data center programming is fundamental in understanding the true business requirements and ensuring the design, and ultimately the construction, meets the business and end-user needs. AlfaTech has developed an extensive data center programming process and methodology that combines IT and Facilities requirements and objectives into a collaborative approach. The programming process consists of individual and/or group interviews, collaboration workshop combined with industry best practices. The programming effort produces a formal Owner Program Requirements (OPR) document that is then used throughout the design and construction process to maintain alignment with the defined business objectives and requirements. The OPR Development Process is intended to facilitate collaboration between stakeholders and bridge Facilities and IT organizations by aligning individual departmental objectives with overarching business requirements and strategies. An effective OPR is organized into the following sections: Business Requirements – Defines how the data center will support and or enable the business to meet the goals and objectives for the enterprise, focus on applications, service levels and business impact. Functional Requirements – Based on business requirements, defines the capacity, reliability, efficiency, scalability and modularity required to meet business needs.
Technical Requirements – Focused on IT, defines the requirements that drive plans for network, servers and storage that will ultimately be supported. Strategies around these technologies have significant impacts on design considerations.
Operational Requirements – Focus on Facilities and Operations. Defines support strategies, physical security, maintenance and operational requirements for a successful facility.
Design Considerations – Based on all of the above, the design considerations serve as instructions to the design team to point them in the right direction. This section includes all required design disciplines. While AlfaTech has the capability and experience to take clients from concept to move-in, we believe the most important step in this process is initial programming. This is where the true business requirements are defined and put into proper perspective regarding competing priorities such as budget, schedule or location. The programming process guides our clients through all necessary considerations to effectively define data center needs and capabilities. This is often measured with parameters such as size, capacity, reliability, efficiency, scalability and sustainability. The process we have developed combines years of both Facilities and IT experience into an effective Data Center planning methodology.
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D ATA C E N T E R P H I L O S O P H Y
DATA CENTER DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
Location : The philosophy of design must take into account local weather and atmospheric conditions as well as utilities. Weather conditions of extreme cold or hot ambient temperatures, humidity and other considerations such as high atmospheric dust content in farming communities will need to be accounted for in the design. Utilities data such as power capacity, reliability and cost; and similar information for data fiber, fuel oil, water … etc. Local building codes may have a large impact on the types of HVAC systems allowed (efficiency), Power generator operational hours and pollution control, sound level and structural design requirements. Redundancy : The philosophy of redundancy must be based on and satisfy the operating philosophy of the data center company. Therefore, if the data center operating philosophy is to mirror all data between two distant sites, the loss of power, a large earthquake or other such events, would require the operation be run from a second site. This condition would require a lesser level of redundancy than an independent site requiring all redundancy be located on site which requires consideration for equipment redundancy when a generator or other major piece of equipment is down for maintenance.
Space Allocation : Each data center operator/owner will have a desired operational layout concept that must be incorporated into the Basis of Design for a given property providing building flexibility, along with local code requirements, building owner requirements, city requirements, and needs of any co-inhabitants in the building. This might include separation of batteries into dedicated rooms, EMF considerations , rack/row lengths, racks or cabinets to house servers, floor and roof seismic loading limits, raised floor height considerations, security concept, equipment access to data floor, generator and equipment yard sighting on a given lot, or other requirements. It is interesting that some clients are moving away from using raised floors. The overall concept of the data center usually starts with definition of operator philosophy on wire management such as data routes and power routes above or below raised floor or split; type of power distribution and power usage of a typical server rack. Power Systems : The philosophy of design for the data center power systems is either a radial or a distributed distribution system. Radial systems are used less frequently and typically on smaller facilities of less than 4000 amps because of the high cost and size of equipment above 4000 amps. Distributed distribution systems provide the opportunity to disperse power and keep equipment under 3000 amps and generator sets to a maximum size of 2 megawatts. The distributed distribution system is more reliable since a single point of failure will not necessarily bring down an entire system. A distributed system must be properly designed to include UPS loads, and HVAC loads to generator ability to start these loads. HVAC loads must be evenly spread across the distributed power busses to balance loads and ensure that all HVAC units serving an area are not taken off line when one bus goes down. Owner preference may be for use of PDUs or individual transformers and panels to distribute power to power strips on individual racks. Monitoring and power management can be done at rack level or 480 volt level with significant cost variation.
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D ATA C E N T E R P H I L O S O P H Y
Temperature Control : The philosophy of controlling temperature in the data center has been driven by data center operator concerns and desires to manage this function. A sophisticated operator may desire zone temperature control based on loading of given areas of the data floor; this may include modulation of air volume (savings on fan power usage) and or modulation of air temperature, but usually not both because of control cost. Some of our clients desire a design using hot and cold aisles between alternating rows of server racks; however this brings the problem of short circuiting of hot air into cold aisles on ends and at top of racks. If server cabinets are used, the specifics of the cabinets will effect the air delivery method and temperature control selected. The need for redundancy and reliability has led many data center operators to utilize PLC based controls over DDC based controls. AlfaTech has extensive experience providing detailed design of both systems types. Humidity Control : The philosophy of humidity control in the data center is driven by two parameters: range of operation and speed of control response. Range is usually between a low of 25% to 35% RH and a high between 65% and 80% RH; the lower the low, and higher the high, the easier the control and less expensive the operation. Speed of response will dictate the type of system required, the faster the control, the higher the cost, and the more energy used. Fast response is normally not a factor unless the user is unaware of the implications; servers do not care what the humidity is as long as it is below 80% to reduce corrosion and above 25% to reduce static charge potential for dissipation.
Fire Protection : Is the client standard a VESDA detection system? Does the client desire an FM-200 system as a standard? It is assumed that a zoned preaction dry pipe distribution system will be used to feed fire sprinkler heads. Fuel Oil : Design philosophy is based on rate of use, timing for deliveries, and length of time the data center must remain functional. Other design considerations are actual capacity that can be extracted from tankage, fuel filtration requirements, and redundancy of fuel delivery system to generators. Calculations and Diagrams: Alfa Tech’s design philosophy is to diagram systems for purpose of discussion and to provide options to allow the owner to make educated decisions on systems they want implemented in their data center facility. Initial calculation spreadsheets are set up to allow us to easily modify inputs to perform what-if system variations. During this phase of development, we like to identify cost and schedule implications to eliminate non-feasible solutions. AlfaTech is experienced in data center commissioning and understands the problems to include sequencing to failure and assuring system design allows this failure to occur. Maintenance : One of the key elements in designing a data center is the ability to allow maintenance of equipment to take place without effecting operating systems. Maintenance can be very difficult in a minimally designed system, therefore install dollars must be expended to ensure the ability to take equipment off line.
HVAC Systems : The philosophy of design for the data center cooling systems is primarily dependent on three things: local codes; the physical restraints and opportunities of the facilities such as ability to place equipment in exterior yard or on roof; and the preferences of the data center operator. AlfaTech designs have included: on floor CRAC units with DX cooling in yards and on roofs; CRAC units with chilled water cooling using both air cooled chillers and dry coolers located in yards and on roofs; rooftop air cooled package air handling units serving air through duct down to under floor; interior mezzanine located air handlers with ducted air down to floor; rooftop air cooled chillers to provide cooling; and floor mounted built up air handlers supplying air under floor. The ideal power efficient system will incorporate air side economizers to use free cooling and/or wet side economizers such as dry coolers. Wet towers and other evaporative based cooling solutions are a problem due to the necessity of storing large quantities of water. If a large source of water is available, such as a lake or ground water wells, this is a plausible option. Air discharge pattern to underfloor or into cabinets can present design problems if improperly implemented, as the venturi effect can pull air from the data room back under the raised floor.
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“A data center is the nerve center of a company…it embodies the most critical systems which are absolutely vital to the continuity of daily operations…”
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05
Relevant Projects
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D A T A C E N T E R S
AS IA DATA CENTERS
Various Locations
Type: Data Center
Presently, AlfaTech has been leading the overall architectural/engineering and overall project/construction management for the following locations in Asia. Our services include detailed schedule/budget, and each site/project is considered as tier 3+ and the most efficient data center in the world with PUE of 1.2 or less.
• Laguna, Philippines
Area: 146,959 ft2 (13,653 m2) gross Data Center: 133,000 ft2 (12,356 m2) No. of Stories: 1-story + mezzanine
Critical Load: 10MW Cooling System: SPLC
• Taguig, Philippines
Area: ~40k ft2 (~3,500 m2), 15th floor No. of Stories: 1
• Jakarta, Indonesia
Critical Load: 40MW Cooling System: SPLC
Area: ~406k ft2 (~38k m2) No. of Stories: ~15-stories
• Kobe, Japan – High-Level Feasibility Study Building A Area: 208,734 ft2 (19,392 m2) No. of Stories: 4-stories
Critical Load: 24MW Cooling System: SPLC
Building B Area: 219,465 ft2 (20,389 m2) No. of Stories: 5-stories Building C (peer review only) Area: 203,298 ft2 (18,887 m2) No. of Stories: 6-stories
Critical Load: 30MW Cooling System: SPLC
Cooling System: re-use existing cooling system
• Busan, South Korea
Area: (site) 49,685 ft2 (4,616 m2) No. of Stories: new 2-stories over existing 3-stories
Critical Load: 5.75MW Cooling System: conventional
• Yeoksam, Korea
Area: floors 4 to 7 only No. of Stories: 19-stories existing
Critical Load: 4.8MW Cooling System: conventional
• Tokyo, Japan (Phase 1)
Critical Load: 6MW Cooling System: SPLC
Area: 44,726 ft2 (4,155 m2) No. of Stories: 7-stories
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D ATA C E N T E R S
CONF IDENTIAL CL IENT DATA CENTER All locations for this client are confidential
Type: Data Center Size: Confidential
AlfaTech provided overall project construction management including on site observation and project tracking and reporting services through the duration of construction for this greenfield site, including interfacing with the local general contractor and regular reporting back to the US based client. In addition to providing overall management of the design build team and on-site project tracking services, AlfaTech provided the project basis of design and peer review of the design build team construction documentation to ensure a complete, and consistent design. This peer review effort included substation design, mechanical, electrical, plumbing, telecom and communications, architectural, structural, civil, fire protection, controls, LEED consulting, and life safety services for this extremely energy efficient data center project.
This project represents the client’s third data center site also under AlfaTech project management and design.
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D A T A C E N T E R S
CONF IDENTIAL MODULAR DATA CENTER
Lulea, Sweden
Type: Modular Data Center Size: Confidential
AlfaTech provided engineering support to the custom modular data center manufacturer in developing design strategies and documentation for Owner review and approval. AlfaTech attended on-site reviews of system installation as well as consulted with the manufacturing company for equipment selection and sizing as well as implementation of the modular building assembly on site. The scope of work included specific consulting on mechanical system design including air handler design, construction, controls, and operation. Electrical engineering scope of work included connections to the sub-station power source, routing and sizing of power feeders to the site, design and construction of the modular electrical room facility and design and construction of the power distribution to the data hall and servers. Through on-site reviews, AlfaTech optimized the design and off-site construction activities to improve operation and performance as well as operational parameters for the completed facility.
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D A T A C E N T E R S
CONF IDENTIAL MIDDLE EAST MINI STRY OF DEFENSE DATA CENTER
Confidential Location
AlfaTech provided design review services of this underground data center complex. Review included assessment of multiple data center facilities within a complex of buildings under construction. Design review comments were provided for incorporation into the overall design documents for the facility. AlfaTech also conducted a site visit to review the initial phase of construction and installation of the core equipment in support of the data center. A due diligence report was provided to document the installation deficiencies as well as recommendations for corrective actions and design improvements for future phases of construction.
AlfaTech & Partners
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D A T A C E N T E R S
CONF IDENTIAL DATA CENTER CL IENT
Novi Sad, Serbia
Type: Data Center Size: 146,400 SF
AlfaTech is providing mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection engineering and technology design services for this Class A, single-user, tier 3 data center corporate headquarters project which consists of approximately 13,900m2/146,400sqf GBA (10,500m2/111,400sqf GBA of above ground areas and 3,250m2/35,000sqf GBA of underground garage), on land it on land that was recently acquired from the city of Novi Sad, Serbia (Radnička Street, Novi Sad, Serbia.
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D ATA C E N T E R S
LUCASF I LM DATA CENTER
Singapore
Type: Data Center Size: Central Data Center
The client required a data center to be collocated within new office space in Singapore. The data center supported a combination of several high density racks to accommodate equipment load for network, storage and lower density servers, and was segmented to support the collocation of multiple groups. While the majority of design and construction oversight was performed by local resources, AlfaTech assisted in the development of program requirements, schematic level design and to then provide peer review.
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D A T A C E N T E R S
BAIDU DATA CENTER
Taiyuan, China
Provided detailed load analysis and equipment vendor bidding and review services for pilot plant data center installation to explore cooling strategies and technologies before full scale deployment to product data center spaces.
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D ATA C E N T E R S
VODAFONE (FORMERLY EXODUS)
Various Locations Worldwide
Type: Data Centers Size: 1.5 million+ SF Seattle, WA 500,000 SF; Irvine, CA 115,000 SF; Santa Clara, CA 300,000 SF; Chicago, IL 400,000 SF; Austin, TX 75,000 SF; Dallas, TX 160,000 SF Singapore 50,000 SF; Paris 35,000 SF; Amsterdam 45,000 SF; Sydney 50,000 SF; Toronto 400,000 SF; London 100,000 SF; Frankfurt 130,000 SF AlfaTech served Exodus in several projects worldwide providing project management, architecture, and engineering design including mechanical, electrical, and plumbing services developing corporate data center design standards and implementing detailed designs for well over 2 million SF of data center facilities both nationally and internationally. These projects are 7/24 fully redundant raised floor data centers with complete UPS and generator backup systems. All projects consist of approximately 80% raised floor and 20% support facilities.
NORZETTA DATA CENTER
Rjukan, Norway
Type: Data Center Size: 380,000 SF
AlfaTech provided comprehensive site selection and conceptual design as well as engineering design for this 140MW project in Norway for two major US corporations and two European companies. The project scope includes state-of-the-art MEP design and is projected to comply with 1.14 PUE.
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D A T A C E N T E R S
FACEBOOK – LEED GOLD Fort Worth, TX
Type: Data Center Size: Confidential
AlfaTech provided site selection support services and continues to provide overall design team project management as well as MEP, Architectural, Structural, Civil, Fire Protection, Controls, Wind Study, LEED Consulting, and Life Safety services for this extremely energy efficient Data Center project. Key design changes to this data center include a redesign of the building arrangement from single data center facilities with support office to a single facility with an office space bridging the equivalent of 2 data center facilities in past projects. In addition to the layout revisions, another major revision to the Core IT spaces was made to address current needs as well as future proofing the space for anticipated technology changes. The MEP system design includes a highly energy efficient design concept divergent from past data center cooling techniques at other project sites. This project represents the fifth data center site (in addition to the Prineville site in Oregon, Forest City site in North Carolina, Lulea site in Sweden, and the Altoona site in Iowa) which were also under AlfaTech project management and design services). The Client achieved LEED Gold Certification for this building.
Awards: Chicago AIA "2020 Design Excellence Award" Distinguished Building
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D A T A C E N T E R S
FACEBOOK – LEED GOLD Prineville, OR
Type: Data Center Size: Confidential
AlfaTech provided overall design team project management as well as site master planning, architectural, structural, civil, telecom and communications, paging systems, MEP, fire protection, controls, wind study, substation design, LEED consulting, and life safety services for this data center project.
This mission critical data center has direct evaporative cooling and N+1 block redundant electrical topologies.
This project involved the site master plan as well as design and construction of two main data center facilities on the site that include a single story with penthouse air handling equipment and outdoor standby diesel generators. The site also includes a cold storage data center facility managed and designed by AlfaTech to provide data storage services to meet the project goals to archive storage at reduced capital costs.
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D A T A C E N T E R S
EQUINIX SV2 – LEED CERTI F IED Santa Clara, CA
Type: Data Center Size: 60,000 SF
AlfaTech provided full mechanical, electrical, plumbing, fire protection engineering, technology design services and overall design project management for tenant improvement to this existing operational collocation facility. This $41 million project includes two separate 22,000 SF build-outs with necessary utility infrastructure upgrades. Electrical design includes live conversion of 2N Data Center spaces to a 3+1 block redundant design and redistribution of existing loads. Mechanical design includes payback analysis for rooftop air handlers with air side economizer and central plant chiller upgrades to optimize system efficiency and reliability. AlfaTech acted as the LEED NC program coordinator and developed design and construction strategies to obtain it’s recently awarded LEED Certified Level status. The firm managed the entire application and appeals process without the use of a LEED consultant, including online documentation of sustainable measures implemented for certification. In order to meet the high data center demand in California’s Silicon Valley, Equinix targeted a rapid expansion/ conversion of their existing SV2 facility located in Santa Clara. AlfaTech led the design team and completed the MEP design for this fast-paced project. We were able to complete the project ahead of schedule, reduce the overall project costs, and incorporate sustainable construction practices. This project was awarded the 2008 Consulting-Specifying Engineer magazine’s Gold ARC Award for renovation and the Silicon Valley Power Energy Innovator Award in the “Energy Efficiency Partner” category at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group Energy Summit.
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D A T A C E N T E R S
EQUINIX SV5 – LEED GOLD San Jose, CA
Type: Data Center Size: 170,000 SF data center with 40,000 SF support space
AlfaTech has provided full project management and MEPT design services for this greenfield data center project.
The project includes 25MW of total power 18MW of critical power as well as parallel path designs for 5,000 ton chilled water plant utilizing pre-packaged modular chiller plant and full air side economizer air handling solution and an alternate, proprietary, refrigerant based cooling system. This project achieved LEED Gold status.
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D A T A C E N T E R S
EQUINIX LA 1 IBX FACI L ITY Los Angeles, CA
Type: Data Center Size: 61,000 SF
This $31 million project was completed in one phase and consists of approximately 51,000 SF of collocation space, and 10,000 SF of storage area.
The colocation area contains a proposed 530 cabinets, and was designed with stand-alone mechanical and electrical systems with interconnections to the existing 6th floor collocation where necessary for reliability or where indicated in the initial single line and flow diagrams.
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D A T A C E N T E R S
DIGITAL REALTY
Santa Clara, CA
Type: Data Center Size: 41,800 SF Data Center / 54,250 SF Total
The facility consists of two stories, 54,250 SF which houses a 41,800 SF data center white space with an outdoor electrical equipment yard on the east side of the building. The facility uses direct exchange cooling unit Liebert DSE equipment, with Liebert DSE condensing equipment located on the roof. The equipment yard comprises five 2,000 kW diesel generators, pad mounted switchgear and pad mounted transformers. The building is designed for 24” raised access floors throughout the data center suites.
VMWARE
Wenatchee, WA
Type: Data Center, Strategic Planning and Programming Size: 85,000 SF total / Central Data Center
AlfaTech supported both the initial build and multiple expansion phases for VMware’s 20K SF of Tier II Data Center space. During the initial construction, AlfaTech provided project management and technical design peer review. AlfaTech was then retained for the full design and construction management of the first expansion, adding 10K SF of Tier II data center space.
AlfaTech was also retained for full design and construction management of the second expansion, adding 25k SF of Tier III data center space.
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