Energy efficient data centre opened

A new 360,000-square-foot wind-cooled data centre has been opened by IT hardware provider Hewlett-Packard (HP), the company has announced.

The centre in Billingham, Cleveland, will store the valuable data of many companies and features a range of security measures, including the requirement of access cards and biometric data to access halls, locked server cabinets, a one-person-at-a-time data hall rule and a high perimeter fence.

HP hopes that the new data centre will be able to compete with IBM for IT services and management contracts. Its first customers are currently using the fourth hall of the building, which has a low-profile aesthetic.

The new facility is HP's most energy efficient data centre yet and has a 1.2 power usage effectiveness (PUE) when the facility is working at full capacity, according to Maurice Julian, the firm's UK facilities project director.

Server racks that are light in colour have been installed in the data halls as it allows them to run with 40% less light than if the cabinets were painted black.

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