Virtus Data Centres will expand its London portfolio with the construction of its second site in West London, which will be the most energy-efficient data centre in the capital, it annouced today.
The new ‘LONDON2’ data centre will be the first in the city to deploy a new fresh-air, evaporative cooling technology that dramatically decreases energy consumption, Virtus said, adding that it will bring site power usage effectiveness (TUE) to below 1.2.
Further contributing to the energy reduction will be solar panels, ground water from Virtus’ own well, chimney racks for heat extraction, and highly efficient UPS systems.
And Virtus will reduce its environmental impact even more by using 100% green power from renewable sources, and heat pumps to recirculate heat generated by the IT equipment into communal areas.??
Mayor of London Boris Johnson welcomed the new development.
“I'm delighted that Virtus has chosen to invest in London again,” he said. “London is leading the global digital technology revolution, and is the world’s leading technology hub with great British technology, creativity and innovation.
“Up-and-coming companies like Virtus are at the heart of that whole explosion of talent in London, and I’m delighted to see them using so many state-of-the-art ways of saving energy and improving efficiency.” ??
Incidentally, Virtus’ chairman, Steve Norris, is a former Mayoral candidate himself. He said his company’s growth in the three years since it opened its first data centre makes it one of London’s technology success stories.
“That growth is fuelled by the boom in technology, media and mobile activity in London,” Norris said. “We wanted our LONDON2 facility to be right at the cutting edge of environmental efficiency and we’re proud of what we’ve started.
He also revealed the company is already looking at other sites for a third data centre called LONDON3.
"Virtus’ on-going commitment to innovate in-line with the way businesses need data centre space ensures that our customers can rely on maximum flexibility, quality, service and value.”
