Central Coast’s Verb deploys first POD

The Verb Data Centre (Verb DC), an Australian data centre built with modular high-density technology, has launched its new economy data centre at North Wyong Industrial Park (NWIP). The new technology facility marks an initial investment of over six million dollars in the local economy. Verb DC will employ 15 people directly on site in the beginning, with the intention of acting as a catalyst for future regional business growth and job creation.

Verb DC chose the Wyong region as the location for its multimillion-dollar data centre so the business could engage the highly skilled work force of the Central Coast and utilise North Wyong’s existing infrastructure, including access to abundant power and the fibre-optic network.

Damien Wilde, Director of Verb DC, said that the company is excited about the opening of its new data centre in the Wyong region.

“Verb DC is proud to have worked with partners such as HP and Microsoft, and telecommunications providers Telstra and Optus to deploy a data centre of the future,” said Wilde.

“We are providing both local and national organisations with IT services that will offer business advantages as well as reduce the negative impact of their IT infrastructure on the environment.”

The HP POD (Performance Optimised Datacentre) is basically a data centre in a shipping container. It comes in two form factors - a 20-foot version, which has 10 50RU racks in it, and a 40-foot version, which has 22 50RU racks in it. It also has a number of options around fire detection and fire prevention. It comes with a Building Management System (BMS) which enables customers to monitor the amount of power and/or cooling at any given time. It enables customers to also optimise the amount of power that the data centre is actually consuming based on the load that is being driven by the IT requirement at that point in time.

“It is a highly efficient data centre, which delivers around 1.25 power utility efficiency (PUE), which results in consumption of around 25% more power than the IT equipment that it’s driving. So in terms of today’s efficiency equations that we would see versus a traditional brick and mortar data centre, it is around 60% more efficient than today’s brick and mortar data centres,” said Stephen Bovis, HP Regional Director of Converged Infrastructure .

Some of the key data centre challenges that customers are facing today are around power, cooling and capacity. Customers' businesses are running out of those elements as the needs and requirements have grown faster than their IT capacity.

Chris Clifford, Director, Verb DC, said, “Power is probably the most significant issue of them all. In relation to power, customers are actually wanting us to look at power reduction. Whilst at the same time, being able to increase power loads per rack in the data centre. The main challenges that customers are facing in the region are twofold. One, CBD space is now at a premium. Secondly, the cost of power is ever increasing.

“The Verb Data Centre provides a niche offering to our customer base. One of the first things that we wanted to address when implementing the HP POD was high-density computing. By high-density computing, we mean being able to optimise a customer’s IT environment and future proof them for up to 10 years. This was a key business priority. Secondly, how do we reduce power? Reducing power is a key consideration in any data centre. Our location at Wyong and the Central Coast enables us to support such business requirements as the Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery (BCDR) line of business requirements. With the HP POD technology, supported by HP blade infrastructure and our router and switching devices, we can accommodate customers up to 40 gig, and 100 gig into the future. What does this mean? It means we are future-proofing," said Clifford.

Bovis said, “The differences between a traditional brick and mortar data centre and the HP POD are around a number of key areas. Firstly, the HP POD corresponds to roughly about 45% lower acquisition cost versus a traditional brick and mortar. Secondly, a brick and mortar data centre may take up to two years from conception to production, versus the HP POD which can be delivered in about 12 weeks. Thirdly, it is around the power density within the HP POD. The HP POD’s capable of up to about 30 kilowatts per rack, in comparison to brick and mortar data centres today which are around three or four kilowatts. In terms of efficiency, the HP POD has a PUE rating of about 1.25, versus a traditional brick and mortar data centre, which is roughly around 2 - so it is highly efficient."