What a brand new data center looks like - from the inside

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From the delivery room to the staging area

After they are delivered, pre-built racks are left in the staging area to acclimatise to the temperature and humidity in the data center.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
High ceilings for pre-built racks

All doors in the building are three metres-high, including the goods lift door, to get pre-built racks inside the center.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
Three emergency power supply (EPS) rooms equipped for power outages

The data center has three emergency power supply rooms, each equipped with a low loss transformer to take the power up into the data hall.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
Three emergency power supply (EPS) rooms equipped for power outages

Each emergency power supply room can deliver 1.1MW power to different zones in the building.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
A separate area to store batteries

Batteries are kept in a separate room, and they can support the emergency power supply for six minutes in the case that the main supply went off.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
One of the four IT rooms is now storing customer data

There are four IT rooms in the center to store servers, and four entry points at ground level that lead into the data rooms.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
Racks of data from Server Choice

Technology company Server Choice has just started storing its data in Kao Data's London 1 center.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
Reducing energy waste: the non-mechanical cooling system

Outside air comes through the corridor behind this screen, in which a damping system enables a uniform flow of air in the room.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
The innovation: no mechanical refrigeration needed

Air from the hot aisle is circulated through a heat exchanger to remove the heat without the need for a mechanical refrigeration system.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
Three outside generators in the event of a power outage

There are three outside generators that can provide 1.75MW of power each in the case of an emergency.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet
Towards more sustainable sources of power

Each outside generator sits on up to 48 hours of diesel storage, and the company is looking at renewable sources of energy to power the engines in the future.

Published: October 22, 2019 -- 09:53 GMT (10:53 BST)
Photo by: Image: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

Caption by: Daphne Leprince-Ringuet

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Kao Data has just started operating a 40,000 square feet data center at the heart of the UK's "innovation corridor", between London, Cambridge and Stansted. This is what 8.8MW of data center capacity looks like from the inside.