Latham-based TurnKey Internet recently unveiled a new state-of-the-art facility that makes the company one of the most energy-efficient datacenters in the nation.
The 12,000-square-foot facility on Old Loudon Road used to be a U.S. Post Office but now it’s filled with offices and a huge room that holds the first of five cold containment pods that hosts the company’s network of about 12,000 servers.
“That adds up to the equivalent of 100 different neighborhood of homes tied together with electricity,” said Adam Wills, TurnKey Internet CEO.
The long and narrow pod is air conditioned while the room beyond its sliding glass doors is warm. That temperature discrepancy helps TurnKey run the servers in the most energy efficient way.
“We have specialized air conditioners called precision cooling systems. They know how to send air conditioning to the right spot on the computer equipment at the most efficient level,” said Wills.
TurnKey differs from other datacenters because instead of creating cold containment pods, most cool an entire room, not just a batch of servers.
“We only cool what we need,” said Wills.
Wills said TurnKey uses about 33 percent less energy than other similar datacenters, like Tech Valley Communications.
The company is basically a cloud. About 100 companies across the country hire TurnKey to host their servers, thereby eliminating the need for computers and saving money and the environment.
“It adds up to tremendous amounts of benefits to the environment compared to traditionally running computers in your office,” said Wills.
Wills pointed to a business in Missouri as an example. The company ditched 30 computers by signing on with TurnKey and in turn, saved 80,000 kilowatt hours per year, or $12,000. The carbon footprint reduction is the equivalent of 7.7 million less miles driven.
Instead of hooking up computers, companies using TurnKey hae their employees use iPads, smartphones, or a simple monitor connected to the internet. The same software and applications run on computers are still available.
The datacenter industry helps businesses save the environment, but in turn, consumes a tremendous amount of electricity itself.
“By 2020, the industry is going to be considered as big a polluter as the airline industry,” said Wills.
That projection is what prompted TurnKey to make an investment now by becoming uber energy efficient.
“With that eye on the future it was very apparent to us that we needed to have a sustainable growth business model utilizing green technology. (It) was not only the socially aware choice but economical because in the long-term it saves us money,” said Wills.
Besides the cold containment pods that keep TurnKey’s electric bill as skinny as possible, the building is powered by solar panels. On Thursday, April 19, a sunny afternoon meant about 75 percent of the electricity being used by servers in the pod was powered by sunlight.
“We’re not burning any fossil fuels, no coal. It’s literally produced on our rooftop,” said Wills.
Because it’s such an energy sucking industry, datacenters like TurnKey are few and far between in this part of the country and more commonly found in states like Virginia and Texas.
“The vast majority operate in different areas of the country because electricity is more expensive in New York than just about anywhere else,” said Wills.
TurnKey received $183,000 in grant funding from National Grid and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and $375,000 from the Albany County Business Development Corporation’s Technology Acceleration Fund administered by the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce to create the energy efficient data hub.
“The Chamber is pleased to work with TurnKey on their business expansion. We applaud their commitment to our region and the environment thorugh their use of green technologies to fuel their IT services,” said Mark Eagan, president and CEO of the Albany-Colonie Regional Chamber of Commerce.”
For more information about TurnKey, visit www.turnkeyinternet.net.
