CoreSite Powers Up With Double-Stacked Generators

SECAUCUS, N.J. - What does reliability look like? On a windy afternoon in northern New Jersey, reliability is vertical, extending skyward in an equipment yard framed by snow and clouds.

At its NY2 data center, CoreSite has stacked the massive generators that provide emergency backup power for the huge new facility. The 2 megawatt Caterpillar engines are there to keep customer servers humming within the 280,000 square foot data center in the event its two utility feed both go dark.

They're part of a $100 million investment CoreSite has made in the Secaucus facility, which provides expansion space for the company tog row beyond its original New York data center at 32 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan.

NY2 represents the newest wrinkles in CoreSite's approach to data center design. Data Center Knowledge had a tour of the facility at its opening a few weeks back. Here's a look at the data center and its features:

coresite-nj-lobby

The lobby is the first stop, and is where visitors begin to encounter the multiple measures CoreSite takes to include customer equipment, which includes key card access, biometric scanner, a mantraps to limit access, security cameras watching the entire interior and exterior of the building, round-the-clark guards, and aperimeter fencing. (Photo: CoreSite)

coresite-nj-datahall

This is the first of 11 planned data halls within NY2. Each provides about 12,000 square feet of space and 1.5 megawatts of power capacity, and is capable of supporting 185 to 200 watts per square foot of power density. The space can be customized to support retail colocation or wholesale data center requirements. CoreSite uses 47U customer cabinets, which are slightly taller than the traditional 42U rack. (Photo: CoreSite)

coresite-nj-powerroom

A look inside the power room in Secaucus. On the software side, the facility uses Automated Logic for its building management system and Fieldview for data center infrastructure management (Photo: CoreSite) .

coresite-nj-ups

For its UPS, CoreSite uses a Mitsubishi MegaPOD UPS system with a current capacity of 3 megawatts. The MegaPOD  israted at 96 to 97 percent efficiency at 75 percent power load. CoreSite houses all the electrical and mechanical equipment on the first floor of its building, with the second floor dedicated entirely to data halls. (Photo: CoreSite)

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The double-stacked Caterpillar generators tower above the equipment yard. The 2.5 megawatt units are raised 8 feet above the yard to ensure clearance far above the 500-year flood stage. They are fed by an 8,500 gallon underground fuel storage tank (Photo: CoreSite)

coresite-nj-gen-wide

Around the back of the building is the equipment yard, featuring a modular chiller plant (via Data Centers Delivered). The cooling plant features evaporative condensing units and can useair- and water-side economization with variable speed CRAHs. CoreSite expects to be able to use economization for about two-thirds of the year at NY2. (Photo: CoreSite)

coresite-nj-power

CoreSite captures a lower rate and distribution efficiency by taking power at 26 KV.