May 29, 2018, Moscow-London. IXcellerate, operator of Russia’s leading commercial data center, announces the opening of the largest data hall in Russia. This is the third expansion of its Moscow-based DC campus. According to independent analysts, the operator ranks amongst the Top-5 DC industry leaders in Russia with a total of 1835 rack-space capacity and a guaranteed 99.999% SLA.
Scale and investments
The new expansion is designed to house 1100 racks within a single, undivided space of 2500 square meters. The overall amount of investment into the new module surpassed $20 million. The construction of the third expansion for IXcellerate Moscow One began in Q4 2017, soon after closing a $15 million convertible loan deal with a group including Goldman Sachs. 10% is already pre-sold with a further 20% reserved for the expansion of existing and new clients.
Flexible future-proof concept
The concept of a single-volume space was adopted early in the design process. This allows for a significant increase of new data hall capacity whilst simultaneously reducing capital costs for construction and equipment. The advantages to the customer include:
- Customized installation and scalability of the power and cooling capacity;
- Long term planning within one single highly connected campus;
- Increased redundancy in cooling;
- Optimal time savings and reduced installation costs.
Guy Willner, IXcellerate CEO: «This project was, 5 years ago, a “start-up”; today IXcellerate is a fully-fledged international company more than serving its initial purpose – to become the most advanced data center in Russia with the best technology, customer service and team. Year after year we boost our clients’ trust, maintaining safe storage and processing of data within the Russian territory for both Russian and international customers. Our reputation reinforces our decisions and first class service. These principles form our ethos and provide a strong competitive advantage within the Russian market. Going forward we will continue following this principle as we expand across the market”.
Infrastructure and technical innovation
The new data hall is customer-ready and adheres to all required international regulations, performing up to the highest global standards. The data center is currently in the final stages of passing the Uptime Institute audit and obtaining Tier III certification in the “design” category scheduled for June 2018. The design process was implemented by ARUP, the principal designer and partner of IXcellerate since its foundation and launch in 2013. Vertiv, IXcellerate’s technology partner, proposed and implemented the optimal engineering solutions as well as offered the outstanding TCOs in order to complete the project.
Among the advanced technologies, being introduced, are:
- A unique cooling system, organized through multiple independent sources, including “classic” DX scheme utilizing refrigerant gas-based CRAC units as well as chillers with free cooling. Ahead of the opening of new data hall, IXcellerate won the “Best Data Center Cooling & Ventilation Solutions in Russia” within the Sustainable Building Awards category of the annual UK-based BUILD awards.
- An eco-friendly chiller-based system, utilizing adiabatic cooling and the ability to use recycled condensation and rainwater with Liebert® AFC adiabatic free cooling chillers, and the Liebert PDX with Vertiv EconoPhase™, an air-cooled direct expansion critical system with refrigerant pumping module incorporated to allow a shift from compressor to economizer mode when conditions suit. Such combination allows up to 50% reduction in energy consumption compared to a conventional air-cooled unit.
- Uninterruptible power supplies with modern lithium-ion batteries, which are smaller, lighter and last longer than traditional ones. This UPS provides market-leading double conversion efficiency of up to 97% and up to 99% in ECO mode as well as optimized efficiency at partial load.
- Unique automated fire-extinguishing system HI-FOG, capable for local fire suppression (fire localization is 4×4 m). It utilizes distilled water mist supplied via a dry-pipe system, which features not only sprinklers on the ceiling and underneath the false floor, but also 60m fire hoses. Such set-up allows for the installation of IT infrastructure without dividing the space into containment zones, as it would be with gas-based fire suppression.
Giordano Albertazzi, president for Vertiv in Europe, Middle East and Africa, commented, “We have been a trusted partner of IXcellerate for over 5 years now. In that time, they established themselves as one of the largest and most innovative data centre providers in Russia. As IXcellerate celebrates their Moscow One data centre’s third phase of growth, we can reflect on the evolution of this state-of-the art facility that has won multiple industry accolades and is testament to the company’s commitment to deliver breakthrough innovations in power and thermal management to the Russian colocation market.”
Business outlook
Looking towards the future, IXcellerate is planning further expansion, with the roll out of additional capacity and locations in the coming years. In 2017 IXcellerate obtained approval for campus development within the current site. This allows for an increase of the Moscow One facility of up to 16,000 square meters housing up to an additional 5,000 client racks. Planning is also underway for further geographic expansion across the Russian Federation.