SAN JOSE, USA: Telecom networking equipment maker Cisco announced a new green data centre in Allen, Texas, to support Cisco's internal private cloud and deliver information technology (IT)-as-a-service.

This data centre integrates Cisco Unified Fabric, Unified Computing, and Unified Network Services.

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Along with technology from key partners like EMC, NetApp, and VMware, the new data center is a showcase for Cisco solutions, including the Cisco Unified Computing System, Nexus 7000 Series switches, Nexus 5000 Series switches, Nexus 1000V Virtual Switch, MDS storage networking switches, Data Center Network Manager and NX-OS, a comprehensive data center operating system that spans the Cisco data centre portfolio.

Cisco's new data center is paired with another data centre facility in Richardson, Texas to form what Cisco calls a Metro Virtual Data Center (MVDC).

Highlights
The building was designed to withstand tornado winds up to 175 mph.

Instead of hundreds of environmentally challenging batteries which are often used in older data centers, the uninterruptable power supply (UPS) room in the 5 megawatt data centre (expandable to 10 megawatt) uses rotary flywheels.

The data center is cooled by an air-side economizer design.

Cisco calculates the facility can use filtered, outside un-chilled air 65 percent of the time, saving the company an expected $600,000 per year in cooling costs, while contributing to its corporate green goals.

A lagoon captures rainwater to irrigate the indigenous, drought-resistant landscape plants.

Solar cells on the roof generate 100 kilowatts of power for the office spaces in the building.

Cisco's data centre is designed to achieve a Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) metric of 1.35.