Source: Rackspace Managed Hosting,
Rackspace Managed Hosting, a leading global provider of managed hosting services, today announced it has signed agreements to lease a new data center in Slough, England and to power it with environmentally-friendly energy.
With more than 65,000 square feet of raised floor, the new facility was added to address the company's continual success in the hosting market and will provide capacity to add more than 40,000 servers to support Rackspace's growing customer base.
The new data center, leased from investment and development group SEGRO (Slough Estates Group), will help to reduce Rackspace's dependency on fossil fuel. Slough Heat and Power, which will supply the Rackspace facility with the required power, does not burn coal and instead uses clean wood chips and fiber fuel, both renewable, biomass energy sources. In the process, material is shredded and converted into small, odorless cubes, which are then combusted to generate electricity, hot water and steam for local businesses and residents. Rackspace's new data center is expected to be fully operational in Spring 2008.
"As Rackspace expands globally, we will work to leverage as many resources as we can that help conserve power or utilize renewable energy sources," said John Engates, chief technology officer, Rackspace Managed Hosting. "Our new data center in the UK is a state-of-the-art facility that we'll customize to our needs to continue the delivery of our award-winning Fanatical Support(TM) to our customers."
Additionally, Rackspace today announced the company has joined The Green Grid, a non-profit consortium dedicated to advancing energy efficiency in data centers and business computing ecosystems. As a contributing member, Rackspace will work to further research and development efforts aimed at reducing power consumption in data centers across the globe.
"For companies like Rackspace, the issue of energy efficiency isn't only theoretical, it's a problem they deal with on a daily basis," said John Tuccillo, a director of The Green Grid. "As a service provider, Rackspace has unique insight into both the hardware and software side of the issue and will provide valuable contributions on ways to improve energy consumption in data centers."
Engates added, "Rackspace manages nearly 30,000 servers globally in large-scale data center implementations and we are continually researching new technologies, processes, and tools to operate our data centers more efficiently as that number grows. As a member of The Green Grid, we can contribute to and tap into this collaborative brainpower that includes some of the brightest minds in data center design and energy efficiency."
Rackspace will participate in The Green Grid committee and working group meetings as a voting member, reviewing and providing input on draft specifications, technical documentation and policy and standards writing. As a contributing member, Rackspace will also be able to review, provide input and receive technical support for specifications, test suites and design guidelines of The Green Grid.