Tony Grayson

The global data centre industry is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by the rise of big-data applications and the colossal volume of data this generates. An astonishing 90% of all data in existence has been created in the past two years and data centres are where most of that data lives. Such growth brings significant opportunities for the industry, but also challenges – just ask Compass Datacenters.

The company built its first data centre in 2013 and for more than a decade Compass has driven major innovations in how data centres are designed, built and operated. These innovations have had a dramatic impact on:

• The speed and scale at which data centres can be built
• The sustainability of data centre construction and operations
• And the ability of data centre campuses to be good neighbours in the communities where they are located.

Speed and scale of construction were the first areas of innovation that gained Compass notoriety in the industry. The company was the first to use innovations associated with modular designs, including prefabrication techniques, off-site manufacturing, integrated supply chain partnerships and much more to build data centres at a speed and at a scale that was unprecedented. These innovations also enabled Compass to achieve quality and safety that set new standards in the industry. Collectively, these innovations are helping to build this critical infrastructure at a pace that has made Compass a go-to partner for the world’s largest cloud and hyperscale companies.

Sustainability is a second area where Compass has achieved numerous firsts in the industry, creating a blueprint for critical IT infrastructure that is far greener. These innovations have included the use of CarbonCure concrete to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of construction, optimising cooling strategies that do not utilise water, utilising greener construction materials, reducing the amount of transportation needed for construction vehicles, protecting green space and much more.

Innovation is making data centre better neighbours 

To illustrate this third type of innovation, let us look at a first-of-its-kind collaboration between Compass and its strategic supply chain partner Vertiv. The project began as a way to address a specific noise issue in northern Virginia but will enable sound improvement for all the company's campuses globally. 

In January 2023 Compass commissioned a data centre in Leesburg, Virginia. In March of the same year, neighbours began to hear an occasional humming noise. When local residents asked Compass to look into the sound, Compass immediately began to investigate.

Since its founding, the company has worked with Vertiv for its cooling technology. Sound studies conducted at Compass’ Leesburg data centre showed that the cooling equipment was registering at 25 - 35 decibels, which is comparable to a whisper. The issue wasn’t volume. As the team kept digging into the data, they found a rogue tonality – an elevated pitch perceptible only to some residents. 

Compass and Vertiv dug deep, learning what they could in order to avoid such problems in future. Their combined hard work revealed the problem: air flow from fans was striking mounting brackets creating the bothersome pitch. By re-engineering the fan mounts, the team was able to deliver a 20% reduction in sound pressure at lower frequencies.

“Vertiv has been our partner since the get-go,” explains Nancy Novak, Chief Innovation Officer at Compass Datacenters. “Although we were well below the noise ordinance level and we didn't have any kind of a legal or contractual obligation to do anything, we spent nine months solving the problem. Both we and Vertiv want to be good neighbours.”

Read the full story HERE​​​​​​​

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