Digital Realty (DLR), a real estate investment trust and leading global data center provider, recently opened its latest ground-up data center in Ashburn, Virginia. With the concrete tilt-up panels set in place for the 230,000-sq.-ft. building this summer, DLR’s first deployment of the “mega scale” prototype data center came online in only eight months—from ground breaking to IST/Occupancy.

Built to host a single customer, the project required a unique approach. DLR worked collaboratively with the customer and project team as the design evolved and adjusted needs accordingly. The confidential end user requirements incorporated a high-density rack layout, optimizing the dollar value of each rack. With power and cooling accounting for 80 percent of the data center operating costs, customers are trending towards this high-density layout which reduces the distance in cable runs and networks, minimizing the cooling and space footprint, resulting in increased efficiency. Every two years, the number of transistors in a dense integrated circuit doubles, and the high-density layout offers more flexibility for these future needs.

DPR incorporated lessons learned from past buildouts through installing all future steel supports to eliminate re-work at the roof and through resequencing future equipment rigging to minimize the number of temporary roll-up doors. Now complete, Phase 1 includes a six-megawatt (MW) data hall. Once fully occupied, the building will have six separate data halls, built-out over the next two to three years, hosting 36MW of critical power.

More than 50 guests, including the customer, design partners, subcontractors, craftspeople and DPR employees celebrated the achievement, as well as the hard work and dedication put forth by all involved with the project. “We can’t thank all of you enough for your efforts to bring this one home,” Dan Kingman, Director of Construction for DLR, told the team. “This was an incredibly impressive performance by the DPR team. This was one of the most challenging and important projects Digital Realty has ever completed, and you more than delivered. Looking forward to continuing to build great things with you.”