Opening With a Bang: Newest-Generation Data Center

A highly anticipated newest-generation data center has just opened in North Texas with a big bang. The innovative hybrid project delivery model (Owner as Builder and co-designer) resulted in a facility designed to be as attractive as it is efficient to serve as a best-in-class colocation data center. The Page project team members can personally attest to how positive the initial reaction is since they attended the grand opening along with legislators, celebrities and big names in the business world.

RagingWire is a subsidiary of NTT Communications, which commissioned the greenfield data center on a 42-acre campus in Garland, Texas as part of a global project to achieve a network of comparable world-class, cost-efficient centers. Although RagingWire has in-house design and construction teams, the firm lacked sufficient resources to design the planned facility in North Texas, so it collaborated with Page as design partner. The client/owner participated in the process and served as construction general contractor.

The project is part of a larger master plan that includes five buildings at 16 MW IT load each for a total 80MW IT load. Each data center is designed to be developed and built in phases, allowing for expansion with minimal interruption to prior phases. The first phase of construction includes site improvements, the first 16 MW and an integrated two-story office. Each 16 MW white space consists of approximately 126,000 square feet of raised-floor area subdivided into 1MW Vaults within a roughly 201,000 square-foot total data center building shell.

The more public-facing office is a unique component of the program that allowed the Page team to integrate not only workplace strategy but also the company's visual identity into the design. The building is a two-story, approximately 40,000 square-foot glass-and-steel-frame structure housing offices for both RagingWire Data Center operations and client use. The design allows the co-existence of the high security purpose of the facility and a welcoming workplace. All RagingWire facilities incorporate elements of the culture and or geography of their locations.

The climate of North Texas poses its own challenges such as heat and windstorms. The building itself is designed to withstand an EF3 tornado moving at speeds up to 165 mph and boasts a heat wheel exchanger. However, North Texas is a very significant data center market with approximately 50 providers, and a research company predicted a 13% YOY growth rate in 2015. The region provides good transportation infrastructure and opportunities to procure large tracts of land.

To see some sneak peeks of the RagingWire facility, click through the above gallery of images.