Telus offered a peek on Friday, Jan. 31, into the secretive world of Big Data, where buildings and road entries are guarded by traps and every circuit, cooling line and power supply has a redundant twin.
The building on McGill Road took 1.5 years to construct, but the groundwork to land the $75-million facility dates back to the period when Health Minister Terry Lake was the city’s mayor and Kevin Krueger was MLA for Kamloops-South Thompson.
Telus officials credited both politicians for helping clear the way with property transactions involving the city and school board and for aggressively pursuing the opportunity.
The first and largest customer is BC Hydro, which stores everything from its billing data to infrastructure information.
Officially dubbed the Kamloops Intelligent Internet Data Centre, it will provide about 25 local jobs and another 50 jobs outside the city.
Telus Corp. officials said the data centre’s ability to expand and its efficiency place it on the leading edge of such centres in the world.
The corporation also heralded a partnership with Thompson Rivers University, which received a $100,000 grant from the centre.
Kamloops is a natural fit for data centres for reasons that include its seismic stability, available workforce and location on the route of a trans-Canada Internet backbone.
Canada and B.C. privacy laws also give it an advantage over operations in the United States, which are subject to U.S. laws that allow greater government intervention.
“We believe [the location] is a key differentiator,” said Lloyd Switzer, senior vice-president of network transformation for Telus. “Customers can say, ‘I don’t want any of that [data] going into the United States.’”
While the focus is now on Canadian customers, Switzer said Telus will be eyeing those in the United States.
“We believe there’s opportunity for Americans to say ‘We want to use this data centre.’”
Following a ceremony attended by community leaders and politicians, Telus offered a tour of its facility and a window into the secretive and secure world of information storage.
The corporation would not permit photographs to be taken inside. Four years ago, developers of the neighbouring Q9 data centre asked city officials prior to its construction to sign non-disclosure documents.
Switzer said cars entering the facility, which is surrounded by chain link and barbed wire, must pass through two sets of gates. Neither opens at the same time.
The same security is in place for visitors who walk in the building. They first enter what is known as a “man trap,” which isolates them between two locking sets of doors. The windowed trap is lined with bulletproof glass and Kevlar protection.
The data centre is designed on a modular basis, with the first of what is intended to be seven modules built and operational. Each holds hallways of computer servers illuminated by glowing green LED lights in otherwise dark rooms.
Switzer said new modules can be constructed and become operational in as little as six months with updated technology. The building will expand its footprint as Telus brings on more customers.
The driver for the data centres comes from so-called cloud computing, where information retrieved by computers and smartphones is stored offsite —everything from music sharing to health-care records and business applications.
To land those clients, Telus offers security of data that is impervious to hackers and intruders as well as perfection in its operation.
The building essentially has two of every system, including cooling and backup power, so it never loses power nor operation. In case of power loss, a kinetic wheel constantly spins to provide 20 seconds or so of power until diesel generators can fire and provide back-up power.
Availability of that short burst of kinetic energy replaces need for batteries that are conventional in many data centres.
That is one of many factors that contribute to the building’s LEED standard. Telus said the building consumes 80 per cent less electricity and 86 per cent less water than typical data centres.
