DC BLOX, a supplier of fiber network solutions and secured data centers across the US Southeast, has announced the completion of its data center expansion in Birmingham, Alabama. This data center expansion includes a new data hall design that is specifically suited to address the growing need for High-Performance Compute (HPC) applications.
In addition to streamlining the distribution of power and floor area between regular and high-density colocation cabinets, the innovative mixed-hall design would pave the way for flexible configurations that can be tailored to the unique needs of certain regions across the company’s data centers. The new data hall design would represent a major advancement toward DC BLOX‘s goal of offering creative solutions that support local businesses, governmental agencies, and academic institutions.
The new mixed-hall colocation design would allow researchers to place GPU clusters next to regular retail racks for ease and quicker data transmission cables since it can house both normal and high-density cabinets in the same location. The capacity of the state-of-the-art infrastructure to accommodate up to 2.4MW of 3N/2 distributed redundant power would be in line with the company’s typical data halls’ simultaneously maintained Tier III architecture. With a maximum power support of 35kW per colocation cabinet, the data hall can accommodate up to 240 regular retail cabinets and 36 HPC-capable cabinets.
The data center expansion is a response to the increasing demand for HPC applications brought about by a number of factors, such as the accessibility of affordable HPC systems built on commodity hardware, the growing use of AI/ML applications, and specialized processor accelerators like GPUs. According to DC BLOX, despite being essential for many sectors, such as government, education, industry, and the biosciences, HPC technology is often out of reach because data centers lack the infrastructure to handle its power and connection needs.
HPC-enabled Data Halls
The U.S. Economic Development Administration has named Birmingham a federal tech hub, attributing this designation to the city’s metamorphosis into a center of technical excellence. Birmingham’s commitment to developing technological fields, particularly biotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI), is acknowledged by this title in addition to its devotion to innovation. DC BLOX’s network connectivity and HPC-capable facility would allow users, like the University of Alabama System, to analyze, store, and send data quickly to research institutions throughout the nation.
Jeff Uphues, CEO of DC BLOX, said that the company’s growth “Underlines our steadfast dedication to empowering the technology-based economy of Birmingham and beyond. Our dedication to meeting the unique demands of our clients in Birmingham is shown by our creative mixed-hall design and HPC capacity. If necessary, the data centers in any of our markets may include our recently constructed HPC-enabled data hall.”
“DC BLOX Birmingham is a key partner for our strategy at UAB IT – Research Computing,” said Ralph Zottola, AVP for UAB Research Computing. “The facility, operations, and staff enable us to design and deploy cutting edge cyberinfrastructure in support of the world-class research conducted at The University of Alabama at Birmingham. From tailoring custom colocation solutions to meet emergent needs during a crisis [COVID-19] to constructing a new data hall engineered and equipped with the infrastructure to deliver the denser power and cooling necessary for high performance computing, the DC BLOX team has proven to be a true partner to UAB Research Computing.”
Originally debuting 18,000 square feet of data center space together with 13,000 square feet of office space, DC BLOX‘s Birmingham data center opened its doors in July 2019. With plans for many hyperscale and/or build-to-suit data centers, as well as more than 50 MW of future power availability, this site would be well-positioned to become a key hub of Alabama’s computational infrastructure and connectivity.
