Terremark Expands by 4MW in Santa Clara with PowerHouse

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An Active Power PowerHouse unit providing containerized power infrastructure for a modular data center. (Photo: Active Power)

Verizon Terremark had a problem. It wanted to expand its data center in Silicon Valley, but was short on space and backup power. The solution: Add four megawatts of power protection by deploying containerized PowerHouse systems from Active Power.

Due to the lack of real estate on its Santa Clara, Calif. campus, the managed hosting and cloud service provider wound up deploying the new units on the roof. Each PowerHouse modular power system includes an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system, switchgear and monitoring software.

"As we update our infrastructure, we are continually looking for ways to make our data centers more efficient," said Ben Stewart, senior vice president, Facility Engineering, at Verizon Terremark. "PowerHouse modular units are energy and space efficient, which give us flexibility to manage power consumption to best serve the needs of our clients and limit energy and equipment waste."

Flywheel UPS Specialists

Active Power makes UPS units that use a flywheel, a spinning cylinder which generates power from kinetic energy, and continues to spin when grid power is interrupted. In most data centers, the UPS system draws power from a bank of large batteries to provide “ride-through” electricity to keep servers online until the diesel generator can start up and begin powering the facility.

Terremark has been among the leading users of flywheel UPS units.

"The power density and flexibility of PowerHouse allows us to offer one of the most compact modular power solutions in the industry that enables the operator to reduce the size and cost of their land and building," said Todd Kiehn, senior director, Product Management, at Active Power. "The philosophy behind our PowerHouse product line is to simplify the design and build process for our customers."

"This simplification comes in the form of taking factory built components, integrating them into a purpose built enclosure, and testing the entire system in advance of delivery as opposed to doing all of this work in the field," continued Kiehn. "This saves the customer time and money so they can better manage the infrastructure supporting their data center power requirements."