A quick update on the status of DC3.

The copper data cabling for the first stage is all but complete - the Krone Highband 25 system was installed and passed it's Category-6 certification last week.



The overhead fibre tray is almost complete - only a couple of 45 degree bends still pending in the entry foyer. Waterfalls are on order to allow services to be neatly dropped into customer racks.





The success of DC3 has been amazing - so much so that we've already started fitting out the next two rows of racks (another 37 racks). The cable trays and fibre trays for these next two rows are already in place.

With the datacentre construction pretty much complete, it's time to start breathing life into an otherwise empty facility.



Photo 1: We have power to the facility (we've had the power on for a good few days now)




Photo 2: This is one of the three power analysers we have on the supply switchboard. This photo was taken pretty early on when the only load was the lights. On launch day we were consuming around 75A/phase. To put that in perspective, that's roughly 25% of what DC1 & DC2 use combined (and they're full). DC3 is currently empty! These analysers also give us an indication of the number of kilowatt hours we've consumed, the power factor of the load, and a multitude of other parameters.




Photo 3: Unless you were at the launch, this is probably the first time you've seen the first two rows of B&R racks. There's more racks to the left of the photo - I just couldn't get far enough back to fit them all into the frame.




Photo 4: This is the first 10 gigabit link into DC3. This link is the first of two fully diverse circuits that will link DC3 into PIPE's metro ethernet network. On launch day we had a single 1 gigabit link that was used primarily to carry the live video for the videocast (it also carried VoIP traffic from the phone extension we put on-site for the day).




Photo 5: This is the first couple of single core gigabit circuits into our Foundry MPLS router at DC3. The lefthand circuit is where the intercapital MPLS network cross connects to the Brisbane metro network (there's currently 3 of these at 3 different sites). The righthand link connects the MPLS router back to another MPLS router in DC1, and the spare GBIC is for a fully diverse link back to the same MPLS router at DC1. There's another link being installed shortly to yet another site.

To view the opening ceremoy live, visit the link below, ceremony is scheduled to start at 4.30pm. Seperate links for video and audio.

mms://bcast2.qld.abbn.tv/PipeDC3Vi­deo [Windows Media]

Audio version of stream:

mms://bcast2.qld.abbn.tv/PipeDC3Au­dio [Windows Media]
..or..
bcast1.qld.abbn.tv:8000/listen.pls [Shoutcast/Winamp]

PIPE Networks Limited will this Wednesday 20th June, 2007 open their 6th Metropolitan Data Centre in Australia which is also the Company’s 3rd Data Centre in Brisbane. The official opening of “DC3” will be a celebration of the significant growth of this young Queensland company. Officially opening the facility and addressing the audience on PIPE Networks’ contribution to the local ICT economy and Queensland Government Smart State vision will be Minister for State Development, The Honourable John Mickel, MP.

The carrier neutral facility will provide critical infrastructure to support the current and future growth, and requirements for secure and reliable data storage facing the ICT industry and local companies.

“Queensland continues to grow with the support of strong government policy and the need for services is driving a huge increase in ICT capacity. Our latest Data Centre will make available more than 350sqm of much needed commercial data centre space” PIPE Networks Managing Director, Mr Bevan Slattery said.

In an industry where such fit-out processes commonly take in excess of 6 months, the challenge was set to finish the facility in only 60 days. The opening ceremony will represent the 66th day since the challenge was set.