Switch PRIMES and its leader Rob Roy

The research company IDC provided data according to which the number of data centers around the world reached 8 million last year. Interestingly, the demand for server farm services is growing rapidly in proportion to the increase in data and multimedia content. World leading companies tirelessly continue to strengthen their position in the data center market. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada, Switch designs, builds, and manages data centers around the world. Among her clients are world-famous companies such as Amazon.com Inc, eBay, PayPal and others. In 2016 alone, the company's net profit amounted to $ 31.4 million.

Collocation provider Switch is known as an ambitious company, its projects are large-scale, amazing in its scope. On account of more than one large and powerful commercial data center. When building new data centers, the provider adheres to the principle of creation and favorable conditions for the environment, the economy and society. Starting January 1, 2016, Switch data centers are working on 100% renewable energy, new jobs, new opportunities and improving the local economy.

Switch was established in 2000, and was founded by Rob Roy, its founder and CEO. Switch data centers have raised industry standards for the design, construction and operations of a data center to Tier 5 Platinum or Tier Elite. Switch is a recognized world leader in the design and construction of data centers, at the disposal of the company's customers the most modern and high-tech data centers.

“If you channel positive energy into the world, it will come back to you.” - Rob Roy

Switch’s patented, innovative design, power, and cooling solutions have enhanced PUE’s overall energy efficiency. Switch’s power and cooling technologies achieve annual PUE ratings of 1.28 in Las Vegas, Nevada and 1.20 in Reno, Nevada. In addition to the standards of the Tier IV Gold Uptime Institute, Switch is the first company to receive the reliability level of Tier 5 Platinum or, as it is called, Tier “Elite”.



In 2016, Switch began construction of two solar power plants in Las Vegas, Nevada, with a total capacity of 179 MW. These facilities will supply all Switch data centers with 100% renewable energy, which will help to avoid the release of carbon in the amount of 265,000 tons into the environment. Switch stands guard over chemicals from the world's most valuable resource - water. At the initiative of the company, innovative technologies for cooling systems are created and developed that not only increase efficiency by more than 400%, but also save more than 600 million liters of water in just 3 years.


Taking into account the shortcomings in assessing the reliability of data centers, Switch introduces a new Tier 5 standard, which, in addition to taking into account factors such as fault tolerance, system redundancy, 30 additional ones will be taken into account: the life of the power supply systems, the location of cooling systems, the security system, and the use of 100 % renewable energy. Uptime Institute standards developers agree that the time has come for a new level of reliability standard. “The various metrics in the evaluation have become obsolete,” said Vince Renault, co-author of the standards and former Uptime Institute technical director from 2009 to 2013. “Switch’s Tier 5 standard takes into account new parameters to assess the availability and reliability of data centers in the colocation industry.” In 2014, Switch became the first Tier IV Gold certified company by the Uptime Institute. Then in 2016 - the only colocation provider who twice passed Tier IV Gold certification. Switch considers the Tier 5 standard to be the first step in creating a new and open Data Standards Fund (DCSF). DCSF will be an independent, nonprofit standards body led by leading technology companies and industry experts.

The new Tier 5 level standard provides:
- the data center can work without water (for cooling)
- the detection of substances that pollute the outside air and quick response
- continuous cooling
- the fault tolerance of critical equipment
- the backup power system at N + 1
- the backup power system is constantly monitored
- 100 hours of fault tolerance of the backup power supply
- 10 operators available online for all customers
- protection against D / DoS
- each rack in the server room
is guarded - we protect access to systems and networks
- monitoring, motion sensors, video surveillance systems for office rooms and the entrance, 15 images per second are stored, records are stored for 90 days
- the exterior walls of the building are windowless, made of concrete
- reinforced steel entrance doors
- no flammable materials in the halls and corridors
- in the neighborhood no objects with a high level of risk (for example, flammable, explosive or nuclear objects)
- powered by 100% renewable sources
- for 12 months the average PUE value is less than 1.3

Switch PRIME - rebranding SuperNAP

ATLANTA. Switch in May 2017 announced its intention to build a PRIME Data Center campus with an area of ​​more than 93 thousand square meters. meters in Atlanta to meet the needs of its customers in the southeastern region of the United States. Under the name “Keep,” the Atlanta campus will be the fourth campus of the Switch PRIMES project, with campuses located throughout the United States. These are Las Vegas, Tahoe Reno (Nevada) and Grand Rapids (Michigan).

PRIME serves the respective region: LAS VEGAS (Core Campus) serves as the PRIME center for Los Angeles, Phoenix and the rest of the Southwestern United States. TAHOE RENO (Citadel Campus) - for San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and the rest of the US Northwest. GRAND-RAPIDS (Pyramid Campus) PRIME Center for Chicago, New York and the rest of the Northeastern United States. ATLANTA (Keep Campus) will serve as the PRIME center for Ashburn, Miami and the rest of Southeast America.

Switch intends to work with local energy providers to provide Atlanta's campus with 100% green energy from local renewable energy sources.

The largest ecosystem of data centers in the world - Core Campus

LAS VEGAS , Nevada, is home to the Tier 5 Platinum server farms. 223 thousand square meters meters of space for data storage and processing, 12 data centers in the territory with a total capacity of 315 MW, here Switch has created the most advanced and most energy-efficient campus in the world.

TAHOE RENO, Reno, Nevada - Citadel Campus

Citadel Campus is Switch’s response to the rapidly growing demand for services provided by the company. The campus is designed as the world's largest data center built on the same principles as the Core Campus in Las Vegas, Nevada. Connected via fiber optic cable (almost 600 km long), two Citadel Campus and Core Campus sites show a delay time between them of 7 ms.



The campus area is almost 669 thousand square meters. meters, the total capacity is 650 MW at 4.9 cents per kWh. Like all Switch data centers, the TAHOE RENO 1, the first erected data center in the queue, was designed and built to the advanced standards of LAS VEGAS Tier 4 data centers.

The Citadel Campus from Switch on Vimeo .

The Citadel Campus in Reno is surrounded by a 6-meter-high concrete wall, making it an unrivaled technological strength. To power the server farm, only energy from 100% renewable sources is used. Safety, reliability and good connectivity are those indicators of a high level of quality of services provided.

GRAND RAPIDS (U.S. Northern Michigan) - Pyramid Campus

The large and modern campus in Michigan is the east coast hub for cloud services and computing. The 5-story building in the form of a pyramid of steel, glass and concrete is not just a server storage, but a real architectural masterpiece.



The campus occupies 102 thousand square meters. meters, the total capacity will be 110 MW, only 100% renewable energy is used. At the moment, two of the planned four objects have been launched - Switch PYRAMID and PYRAMID Data Center. Next in line is the design of GRAND RAPIDS 1 and GRAND RAPIDS 2.

Rob Roy

Back in early 2000, Rob Roy realized that the data center industry would grow at an incredible rate in proportion to the increasing demand for hosting, storing, and processing unthinkable amounts of content. He introduced his first patented designs for his Switch WDMD (Wattage Density Modular Design) program. Rob Roy's portfolio has 350 patented or patent pending applications.



Most of the modern companies in the data center market use the concepts that were first patented and introduced by Rob Roy when building, operating data centers. He is a pioneer of many concepts and practices in the data center industry.

Among the innovations: SwitchSHIELD - a double-roof system, PDU Corridor (POWER SPINE) providing 100% Power Uptime, steel racks called BLACK IRON FOREST, Living DataCenter or LDC software, a unique uninterrupted multi-cooling system with WDMD (Wattage Density Modular installations Design), located outside the data center.

PDU Corridor (POWER SPINE) is an improved design that allows you to manage capacities and place them not on the raised floor or on top, but along the corridors themselves.


PDU Corridor (POWER SPINE)

BLACK IRON FOREST steel racks - structures play the role of original radiators, which helps to cool the server farm room even in the event of a power and cooling system malfunction.


BLACK IRON FOREST

An uninterrupted cooling system located outside the data center is a structure that supports six cooling modes. The additional air intakes at the top of the structures and the hot / cold air separation system are innovations that bring the cooling system to a new higher level.


WDMD (Wattage Density Modular Design) cooling units



Rob Roy, founder and CEO of a company with a legendary name - intrigue. Not much is known from his biography.

He grew up in Wisconsin.. From his memoirs: at the age of 12, his father was paralyzed, having decided to get a degree in computer science at the University of Wisconsin and because of paralysis he was forced to study and perform tasks at home. Roy helped his father, brought books, turned over pages and listened to lectures, typed texts.

Enron and Switch . In 2002, Enron went bankrupt, Roy bought a giant data center for pennies and rushed ...

His name is legendary . Rob Roy McGregor was an 18th-century Scottish highlander, his name immortalized in Walter Scott's novel. Rob Roy is not associated with the Scottish hero or John McGregor, a 19th-century sailor, explorer, travel writer, and philanthropist who also earned the nickname “Rob Roy.”

He is a pioneer in digital technology.: Chief inventor and designer of SUPERNAP devices and their technological solutions. Rob Roy is considered the most successful entrepreneur in the data center industry. Numerous patented inventions and developments have become a new round in the development and design of server storage.


Rob Roy with his wife Stella

Family . A swarm of almost 40, in addition to his favorite work, there is a wife Stella and a daughter. Rob speaks best of all about his family: "I have the coolest family!"



The Stella and Rob Foundation is making changes to the Las Vegas community. The swarms are founding members of Smith Center for the Performing Arts. In 2013, they received an award for participating in a charity campaign for the St. Judah.

Like the whole life of Rob Roy, Switch was founded and works on the principle of “karma”: sending positive energy to the world - you get it back.

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