University of Colorado
- University of Colorado
- Boulder, CO
According to Robert Strong, Critical Facilities Technology, University of Colorado,
“Data Centers Delivered was an invaluable partner in the design, construction, and implementation of the Janus Facility on the University of Colorado campus.”
White Paper
When the University of Colorado and National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) needed a data center to deploy the Janus supercomputer — a 184 teraflop cluster — on its Boulder campus, Dell and its partner Critical Facilities Technology turned to Data Centers Delivered to produce a custom-built modular data center. The Janus supercomputer system features 16,416 total cores in 1,368 compute nodes, housed in 342 chassis with four nodes apiece. When it was delivered, the Janus supercomputer placed #45 on the Top 500 list of fastest supercomputers in the world.
In addition to the chosen custom modular approach, during the concept phase the project team also evaluated using existing available building space on campus, new brick-and-mortar construction, and available standardized container data center solutions to house the supercomputer. In the end, the ability to deliver the facility in less than six months, together with the flexibility to design the data center for the supercomputer ? not designing the supercomputer to fit into a predetermined form factor footprint ? drove the decision-making to Data Centers Delivered’s solution.
The facility design incorporates an IT load of just over 1MW at over 32kW/rack density for the compute cabinets. The design target PUE for the facility was 1.2, and the measured PUE for the first year of operation was 1.14. Designed as a standalone structure, the data center can be expanded in the future via additional data center modules. The current total footprint of the data center is 2,277 square feet, which includes approximately 1,500 square feet of data center raised floor “white space” and an additional 750 square feet of integrated space to house the mechanical and electrical infrastructure. The data center, which incorporates a custom APC Hot Aisle Containment system with close-coupled inrow cooling, is supported by a water-cooled chiller plant with plate and frame heat exchanger for free cooling.
The Janus facility was completely pre-engineered and pre-fabricated off-site to minimize work at the project site. Production time in Data Center Delivered’s factory was 13 weeks. Following factory testing, the modules were disconnected and loaded on tractor trailers for transport to the jobsite.
Comprising five individual modules, this turnkey data center required a total of six trucks to transport these modules (five data center modules and one additional truck for the cooling tower, mezzanine support assembly, and other miscellaneous items) to the site in Boulder, Colorado. Once arriving on site, the five modules were rigged into place on a prepared concrete foundation in a span of nine hours. External connections (caulking/bolting, etc.) for the data center enclosure walls and roof between module/shipping splits were also completed on that first day to make the entire assembly weather-tight and secure.
Internal mechanical and electrical connections were then completed over the next few days, while local representatives for the included fire protection and security systems completed required work to interface to remote monitoring. To further compress the time required from delivery to turnover, final cabling connections for the supercomputer cluster were completed in parallel to these efforts. Overall, the timeline from initial production release to completed site commissioning and hardware testing was only 18 weeks.