Consultants Forum Advertise
Subscribe
Close

  • Free for qualified executives and consultants to industry

  • Receive quarterly issues of Area Development Magazine and special market report and directory issues

Subscribe Now
Renew

Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

GIGA Data Centers Builds Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee

06/24/2020
GIGA Data Centers, a data center provider creating affordable, multi-tenant colocation facilities with unprecedented energy efficiency, is building its newest data center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

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 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 President and 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’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.

According to company officials, 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 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.

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.”

Exclusive Research