Infomart has branched out into data centers, opening a colocation facility in its long-established Infomart carrier hotel in Dallas Texas. The 24,000 sq ft (2230 sq m) space ison the fourth floor of an impressive building whose design is based on the Queen Victoria’s Crystal Palace. 

The Infomart building was created in 1985 to offer services to local high-tech firms, and already contains at least one other data center run by Equinix. Infomart had previously focused on networking , but became Infomart Data Centers in October 2014 when it merged with Fortune Data Centers.

Infomart Atrium
Infomart Atrium

Plenty of room for all?

Infomart’s new colo space takes up only a fraction of the 1.6 million sq ft (148,600 sq m) available in the building. The space and its 3 MW of capacity represents phase one of a project that will take the facility to 500,000 sq ft (46,500 sq m) and as much as 40 MW of IT power, within the next 10 years.

The 24,000 sq ft data center contains 16,000 sq ft (1500 sq m) of raised floor space and is part of an initiative that Infomart hopes to see resulting in SSAE 16, LEED Gold, PCI DSS and HIPAA certifications, as well as Uptime Institute’s M&O Stamp of Approval, achieved within a year.

The $40 million investment is the first wholesale data center space offered directly by Infomart at this location. While Infomart expects to find many takers for its services in north Texas, it is not the first colo in the building. Equinix has over 100,000 sq ft (9300 sq m) of colo space in four data centers available at this location.

Data center floor
Data center floor

The Infomart building is one of the most connected in the world with every Tier 1 provider having a presence onsite, with more than a dozen Tier II and Tier IIII providers also available. True 2N power is available, with a maximum power density of 12kW per cabinet, and power costs are passed directly from the provider to the end-user customer with no markup from Infomart (current cost is approximately $0.05/kWh).

The facility has been designed with a target PUE of 1.37 and is offering a 1.5 PUE guarantee to its customers. Green initiatives are in place, ranging from LED lighting to low-emission diesel backup generators.

Irrlevant aside: raised floors were the downfall of the original Crystal Palace, which was constructed in Hyde Park for Queen Victoria’s Great Exhibition of 1851, and then moved to South London, where it burnt down in  November 1936.

To save on cleaning, the Crystal Palace was built with gaps between its wooden floorboards, so the dresses of lady visitors would sweep any dust and rubbish through the gaps into the space below. This, combined with deckchairs stored in the basement for the winter, created a fire hazard that ultimately destroyed the building.