Phase two of GovDC complete.
The Unanderra GovDC data centre is one of two facilities operated by Metronode to house the computing needs of NSW government agencies, under the state's data centre consolidation project.
Unanderra boasts 8MW of capacity, with roughly 200 racks in each of its 10 data halls. It has just received Tier III certification by the Uptime Institute and is working towards the country's only five star NABERS rating.
Yesterday marked the formal opening of the second wing of the GovDC facility, and the completion of the final contstruction phase of the data centre reform program as it was orginally envisaged.
iTnews took a tour of the newly opened hall.
A few NSW government agencies have begun moving equipment into the new section, but the secure data rooms are mostly empty, awaiting the installation of servers.
Roughly 90 percent of the new data centre wing has already been leased to NSW government clients.
Both of the GovDC facilities, in Silverwater and Unanderra, rely on energy efficient evaporative cooling techniques to keep the data halls at the right temperature.
The system runs almost entirely on outside air that is drawn in and circulated throughout the data halls.
Each room is protected by automated louvres, which provide physical protection and also open and close according to the IT load within each, meaning that less-full areas don't draw in any more cool air than they need.
Behind the louvres exists the computing equipment that powers the state government.
Two air conditioning systems cool 8 megawatts of IT load at Unanderra.
Cables line the ceiling of the Unanderra data hall.
Phase one has been open since August 2013 and is operating at capacity.
The NSW government has also set up pre-powered and pre-cabled server racks for smaller state agencies that want to move into GovDC quickly and easily.
These were described as being like "the IKEA racks" of the facility".
Giant cannisters of fire retardant line the halls just in case anything goes wrong.
Metronode's Josh Griggs points out the vacant land adjoining the Unanderra data centre that has already been purchased and DA approved by the facility owner for when the time comes to expand.