Global Switch, a prominent developer, operator, and owner of large-scale, network dense, carrier-neutral colocation data centers throughout Europe and Asia-Pacific, has announced that its new Amsterdam East data center has received Stage 1 OCP Ready status from the Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP).
The OCP Ready program was launched in 2018 in order to assist end users find data centers where OCP IT equipment can be deployed at scale and with ease. Only seven other colocation data centers in EMEA have obtained the coveted accreditation before Global Switch Amsterdam East.
Launched in Q1 2024, the first phase of Global Switch Amsterdam East received Optimum ratings in multiple critical areas, including cooling and electrical. It also received mostly Optimum ratings in the other categories. Global Switch obtained the OCP certification by demonstrating the data center’s effectiveness, transparency, impact, and size, as well as by passing a validation procedure and adhering to OCP regulation.
“Amsterdam East will enjoy both high density and open compute design ensuring that customers can deploy at scale faster, more cost effectively, and efficiently, as well as protect their investment,” said René Olde Olthof, Managing Director, Amsterdam, Global Switch. “In addition, customers will immediately benefit from direct access to the already network dense ecosystem of Amsterdam West that is home to many of the world’s major cloud service providers.”
Over 30kW Per Rack
René Olde Olthof, Managing Director, Amsterdam, Global Switch.The Amsterdam East colocation facility, which will expand the campus by providing 32,000 sq m of space with “cutting-edge” technical suites that can meet clients' high-performance computing (HPC) demands, is situated next to Global Switch's current Amsterdam West data center. With an average density of 3,000W/m2, each suite will have a 2MW capacity, and 4MW of continuous space may be supplied. Data center colocation clients would be able to satisfy their business demands and optimize their IT infrastructure thanks to this.
The new data center complies with OCP Ready requirements by offering high density space with a high structurally enforced floor loading capacity, ramp-free accessibility, and well-defined access paths that facilitate the movement of fully occupied OCP compliance racks into the technical area.
“An OCP Ready data center has been through a thorough peer review process and achieved recognition for implementing the industry’s best practices for efficiency and scale,” said Mark Dansie, OCP Ready Facilities Lead at OCP. “This facility has been designed to be environmentally sustainable and at the same time able to support AI applications running on high density compute racks such Open Rack V3.”
Global Switch says it is pleased to support Open Rack Version 3 (ORV3) racks, an enhanced innovation of the open rack. As seen at the recent OCP Global Summit, these racks can support high density installations of up to 30kW per rack or more. For Global Switch’s colocation clients, ORV3 racks would provide increased effectiveness, scalability, and flexibility.
Because OCP Ready data centers can manage high density workloads with air cooling, they provide several benefits for Machine Learning and AI applications. This can be an important advantage for these new, high-processing-power technologies. In later phases of development, liquid cooling via the ORV3 rack will be provided to enable super-high rack deployment for chipsets that cannot be sustained by air.
“Having Global Switch join the OCP Colo Solution Provider program is a fantastic addition to the OCP Community,” said Steve Helvie, Vice President of Emerging Markets at OCP. “By achieving OCP Ready status with their Amsterdam East data center, Global Switch has demonstrated openness, scalability and sustainability providing a new location for optimizing deployments of OCP recognized hardware.”
