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Minkels and Deltalis see their modular approach recognized by DatacenterDynamics Awards
December 2012 by Marc Jacob
The Deltalis RadixCloud data center is located at an extreme location deep within the Swiss Alps. This exceptional project has just been shortlisted for the finals of DatacenterDynamics EMEA 2012 Awards on the 13th of December, in the category ‘Most Extreme Data Center Deployment’. Supplier Minkels and operator Deltalis see it as a recognition for their ‘modular’ thinking in the data center environment.
Deltalis RadixCloud lies deep inside a mountain near the Swiss Gotthard massif. This location offers clients of Deltalis an extreme secure Tier IV colocation facility. It’s also a highly energy-efficient data center facility, using the mountain’s natural cooling resources (glacier water, for example) to set new standards in Green IT.
Formerly housing the Command and Control center for the Swiss Air Force, the rock chambers of the Deltalis RadixCloud data center provide a huge space. The Deltalis data center consists of several multi storey buildings built into the granite rock, providing its customers with military-grade secured colocation space. Deltalis has vaulted ceilings in separated rooms and pillars around which colocation facilities had to be created. At this extreme location, data center supplier Minkels, part of the global organization of Legrand Group, implemented its modular data center products.
Modular data center solutions
Minkels was specifically selected by Deltalis for its modular approach, delivering modular data center solutions such as Minkels Varicon M data center racks and Minkels Cold Corridor aisle containment solutions meant for an energy-efficient separation of cold and warm airflows. “The modularity and energy-efficiency of Minkels’ solutions fully matched our detailed and location specific requirements,” says Michael Imfeld, VP Marketing & Sales at Deltalis. “Modularity in the data center solutions being offered, together with Minkels’ approach to fully customize its solutions on top of that, helped us to create a maximum of efficiency in our data center infrastructure. The infrastructure now connects seamlessly with the capricious cave-like environment.”
Modularity and full customization on top of - but also within - modular options are key features to Minkels’ data center solutions. Jeroen Hol, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Minkels: “By offering modularity and full customization as standard features we do not only meet challenges associated with deployment in ‘difficult’ locations such as the Swiss Mountains project, it also facilitates current developments regarding the evolving data center dynamics and increasing need for flexibility and scalability when it comes to cloud computing and virtualization.”
Green data center
Energy-efficiency goals and green data center operating principles are an integral part of Deltalis’ data center deployment at this extreme location. Imfeld: “Apart from the energy-efficient characteristics of Minkels’ solutions, we are using energy-efficient natural mountain resources, such as cold glacier water for the cooling. Of course, a project such as this requires quite some improvisation force from a supplier, but Minkels has modularity and customization integrated in its vendor supply principles. This helped us in our innovative efforts, it maximized our adaptability to the irregular environmental conditions inside the mountain.”
On the 13th of December Minkels and Deltalis will attend the Gala Ceremony of the DatacenterDynamics EMEA 2012 Awards. Over 600 industry professionals will join this black tie Gala Awards Ceremony at the Lancaster London hotel, celebrating excellence across the data center industry. The DatacenterDynamics EMEA 6th Annual Awards is held to recognise innovation, leadership and ‘out of the box’ thinking in the data center industry across the EMEA region.
