Data centers are the super-places of the digital era. They are “technological fortresses” that, like magnets, attract and concentrate enormous amounts of data.
In-Site, an integrated engineering company, specialized in the design and building of complex technological infrastructure, is announcing that Open Hub Med (OHM) has chosen it to design the first neutral technology hub in the Mediterranean open to all operators.
Open Hub Med is a consortium, created to give international telecommunications operators a multi-stakeholder model for the exchange of internet traffic in the Mediterranean area, the fruit of the efforts of its eight founding members: Eolo, Equinix Italia, Fastweb, Interoute, Italtel, MIX, SUPERNAP Italia, VueTel Italia, and XMED. OHM’s data center, located in Carini (Palermo) is the first neutral, independent technology hub in southern Italy , it is designed to provide neutrality, reliability, and safety up to the highest industry standards.
There were two essential requirements for designing the Carini technology hub: first, the need to plan a structure that could be scalable over time and can be modified later; second, the desire to build a structure that fully meets criteria for optimal energy savings.
The spaces of this kind of complex technological infrastructure hold huge numbers of sophisticated servers, massive air conditioners, and elaborate electrical systems. These buildings’ operation is so complex and integrated that they are almost like living organisms. Inside, the distribution of data, and therefore of energy and fluids, is in constant flux, in a synchrony of processes that strive for optimal efficiency and minimal environmental impact.
In-site’s design for the Open Hub Med spaces creates an architecture of great symbolic force. Not only does it accommodate ultra-sophisticated technologies, it conveys Open Hub Med’s identity, especially in the interior spaces where people interact with machines and monitor their operation — the Control Room and the Security Operation Center.
The Carini infrastructure’s greatest strength is its hydronic technology. Two water-cooled chillers offering a “plug&play package“, which helps reduce energy loss and improves yields. The system’s configuration will allow for scalability through the use of the UPS 2N 1 system.
