Dutch based data center provider EvoSwitch said it has reduced the average Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of its facilities, from 1.8 to 1.6 at its 20 MW facility near Amsterdam.

The power reduction resulted in a 20 per cent increase in energy saving - from 20 to 40 per cent - compared to a traditional data center.

The company said the ultimate goal of EvoSwitch is to achieve an energy saving of 70 to 80 percent. The extra 20 per cent saving in energy consumption is largely the result of further investments in low-energy equipment and control systems. The expansion of the data center in 2008 also contributed to the improved PUE.

EvoSwitch's first phase (2,000 m2) was completed in April 2007. The second phase was completed shortly before the summer of 2008 and required an additional investment of \Euro9 million. When completed, EvoSwitch will have a potential floor area capacity of more than 9,000 m2.

Laurens Rosenthal, Innovation Director of EvoSwitch, said: ''The extra energy saving is in line with what we calculated beforehand. An average PUE of 1.6 is low, but the new design of the next phases enables us to achieve an even lower PUE. After completion of the next phases a PUE of 1.2 to 1.3 is a very realistic objective. According to our calculations, an energy saving will be realised in the new phase, in phase 3, of 70 to 80 percent compared to a traditional data center.''

"It means that you need only 20 to 30 percent extra power to manage the data center infrastructure, whereas in traditional data centers 80 to 120 per cent extra power is quite common nowadays. There are even excesses in the market of 3.0, which means that 200 percent extra energy is required."

Mr. Rosenthal added, ''The energy savings are used by EvoSwitch to finance the current and new investments in green technologies, but also to offer customers affordable energy prices. Building a green data center is more expensive than a traditional data center, but this does not affect our customers. Our customers also do not have to pay anything extra for our CO2 compensation, in which we invest together with the Climate Neutral Group. Because of our investments in green technology and our long-term energy purchasing strategy, we can keep energy costs controllable and predictable for our customers. The environmentally friendly design of the EvoSwitch data center was the result of expert advice from TNO and the innovative work of our own dedicated design team. It enabled us to offer an energy-low concept at the opening of the data center in April 2007, among other things based on Free Cooling (using the outside temperature), Cold Corridors (separating warm and cold air flows) and UPS technology with Delta Conversion.''

Mr. Rosenthal continued, ''There are many suppliers on the market who claim to operate 'green'. The only thing that counts in a data center, however, is the Power Usage Effectiveness. A data center may buy green power, but that does not make it energy-low. A data center may install Cold Corridors, but that does not necessarily result in the best possible energy saving. The PUE of a data center is the key figure that shows how green a data center actually is.

EvoSwitch is ISO 9001 and ISO 27001 certified. To customers this means that their IT infrastructure within EvoSwitch is protected according to the highest standards. The data center has a total capacity of 20 Megawatt. This power capacity enables EvoSwitch to guarantee customers that there is always enough energy available. EvoSwitch operates fully climate-neutral. In cooperation with the Climate Neutral Group the data center invests in worldwide projects to restore the CO2 balance in the atmosphere.