Equinix Chicago Data Center

Hello Everyone...,

            In today's world, large amounts of data are being collected and processed. We all would be wondering where these data are being stored? These data are being stored in a physical storage area called Data Center. In this blog we shall discuss about a particular data center "Equinix Chicago Data Center". Equinix is the world’s largest International Business Exchange (IBX) data center and colocation provider. It contains 145 data centers in fifteen countries. In US they have more than two million square feet of space. The Chicago data center is 280,000 square feet of space which is located at Elk Grove village. This data center is a three-storey building with first floor containing the facility infrastructure and the second and third floor containing the colocation space.            

            Overall Equinix provide very good security which helps to keep the data secured. In Chicago data center, they have multiple layers and levels of security. Dozens of security cameras are placed inside the data center which helps to monitor the center effectively. In order to avoid unauthorized person to access the data center they have also used bio metric scanners. Also the lock doors would require unique identification code to access it.The floor of the facility infrastructure is made up of concrete slab and the floor of colocation space is made up of tiles, which is being cooled daily. The model of Chicago data center is called as upside down data center, which in turn consist of overhead cable trays, which has thousands of cross connects containing copper, fiber and coaxial cables.

 

 

(Inside the Equinix Chicago Data Center)

The temperature of colocation floor is maintained between 68°F to 72°F. The Chicago data center contains four air handler rooms; east and west side of the colocation room contains the air handlers. The warm air from the colocation room is sent to the filters, where it is being cooled. Using ducts, the cooled air is again taken back to the colocation room and then sent to equipment’s for cooling.

In almost all the data centers, most of the heat is being produced by the computer equipment’s. In Chicago data center, sensors are being placed throughout the floors which will monitor the cooling requirements in a particular area. When the sensors call for more cooling in a particular area, then the building management system increases the frequency of the fan and supply more cool air to the place where it is needed. Also they have eight 750 ton Trane chillers and on the roof they have 8 bottom air coil water cooling towers. When the outdoor air temperature is 45°F, the heat exchangers stops the mechanical cooling and uses the outdoor air to cool the colocation space.

The overall capacity of the facility is 30 MW. This data center contains 15 diesel generators, with 12 generators that are kept online and 3 more generators on standby. Also they have two swing generators, which can be used for maintenance purposes. This facility contains two 34.5 KV lines and the remaining of the facility operates on 480 V. Overall Equinix strives hard to satisfy their customers in all ways. Hope I have provided some insights on Equinix Chicago data center. Soon I will be sharing some other information about data center and its operation in my next blog.

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBIl0curTxU