GIGA Oak Ridge, TN: GIGA Data Centers Building New Colocation Facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee (PR)

Atlanta, GA  — GIGA Data Centers, LLC (GIGA), a new breed of data center provider creating affordable, multi-tenant colocation facilities with unprecedented energy efficiency, today announced the company is building its newest Data Center in Oak Ridge, TN. GIGA secured unanimous approval of its PILOT Program application from the Oak Ridge Industrial Development Board the prior week, obtaining tax incentives for the next seven years.

The new facility will use an updated design of GIGA’s highly energy-efficient WindChill™ Enclosure, similar to one used currently in its CLT-1 Data Center supporting the Charlotte, NC metro area. The Oak Ridge data center has access to multiple fiber-optic carriers as well as High-Reliability substations fed by the TVA with green and renewable electricity. In addition, the Oak Ridge facility represents the latest in data center innovation to cost-effectively support the higher power requirements needed for high-performance computing and storage in AI, healthcare, manufacturing, and many other industry segments. The data center will also provide the closest proximity to the supercomputers and databases operated by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), including Summit, the world’s fastest supercomputer, and access to the 140 research and commercial networks supported through ESnet.  The data center will offer the lowest-latency solution for companies seeking access to this elite level of scientific compute service, and provide an ultra-high efficiency, forward-looking facility that will reduce colocation costs, compared to standard data centers using raised-floor cooling.

GIGA President & CEO Jake Ring said, “With our new facility, companies of all sizes will finally have access to high-performance compute capabilities at affordable prices.” Ring attributes the affordable pricing to GIGA’s innovative WindChill® system which provides hot/cold aisle isolation and passive cooling to dramatically lower data center operating costs yet offers flexible rack-power densities from 4 to 50 kilowatts per rack cabinet.

GIGA is retrofitting the existing 30,000 square foot facility into a data center. Once used by the Department of Energy’s Y-12 National Security Complex to store classified documents including archives of the Manhattan Project, the property will scale to support 20 Megawatts of capacity or more. Oak Ridge Mayor Warren Gooch said, “I am very appreciative and excited that GIGA Data Centers has chosen Oak Ridge for their next ‘state of the art’ project. As the economy has started again, we welcome this strong company to Oak Ridge and acknowledge its active re-use of a significant specialty property and expanding its new use. We look forward to standing with them when they cut the ribbon on their new facility in the very near future.”

Built to Tier III Uptime Institute specifications, the first phase will supply 4MW of critical power in a 2N configuration with an industry-leading guaranteed maximum Power Use Efficiency (PUE) rating of 1.15. The data center uses 95% less water than a typical facility using chilled-water & cooling towers, and reduces operating power consumption by almost 80%. Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said: “GIGA Data Centers represents one of the next generation technologies that our economic development team has targeted as a technological statement for the community. Securing data centers through their site selection process is a long and challenging process. I congratulate our team on a successful recruitment and welcome GIGA Data Centers as a member of our community of Oak Ridge.”

“GIGA’s new facility is another efficiency milestone for the colocation industry that places world-class hosting and carrier-neutral services in an ideal location, to offer a better option over more costly data center fees charged in other markets,” Ring added.