Data centre and cloud services provider DataVita is set to expand capacity at its flagship which supports critical IT services for an estimated three million people across Scotland.
The company, a division of Scottish commercial property group HFD, has spent £8 million on adding an extra 400 racks at its Fortis data centre in Bellshill. DataVita acquired the facility, the largest and only data centre of its kind in Scotland, in May of last year from a syndicate of private investors.
The expansion takes Fortis up to 1,500sq metres of technical space, and opens up the opportunity provide a further 3,000sq metres in the future.
Earlier this year DataVita announced plans to open a new data centre in Glasgow's largest single office building at 177 Bothwell Street. That £6m investment, together with the Fortis expansion, will deliver an additional 550 racks of capacity in central Scotland.
READ MORE: DataVita appointments to drive further growth
“The expansion of Fortis is part of our long-term plan for the facility and underlines our commitment to providing the best and most energy efficient data services to private, public, and third sector organisations across Scotland," managing director Danny Quinn said.
“Sustainability is high on the agenda for IT and that has only become even more the case with energy price increases and the recent hot weather. Many companies are now no longer able to accept the cost of running their own data centre services, and the steps we have already taken to use renewable energy and make our facility as efficient as possible has driven more interest in our offering."
DataVita plans to further enhance its green credentials by taking Fortis off-grid, generating its own electricity from wind and battery-powered backup systems. Last year DataVita also became the first Scottish IT business to sign the Climate Neutral Data Centre Pact.
READ MORE: Datavita in £6m Glasgow city centre data site move
The facility uses free cooling technology to harness Scotland’s natural climate to maintain optimum temperatures, rather than using energy-intensive air conditioning. The centre’s current power usage effectiveness (PUE) is 1.18, compared to an industry average of 2.0.
“The additional capacity at Fortis will ensure we can support more organisations with their IT infrastructure, along with our own growth and plans to make the facility even more efficient in the future," Mr Quinn added.
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