Telus Corp.’s latest Internet data centre is now open in southern British Columbia.
One of eight across the country, the $75 million facility 115,000 sq. ft. facility in Kamloops is part of $3 billion the Buraby, B.C., based carrier is making across the province.
The centre will employ 25 people in a city with a population of about 86,000.
“The Kamloops Internet Data Centre will be the cornerstone of our national next-generation cloud computing services, handling complex data storage and offering unsurpassed connectivity, superior functionality, state-of-the-art security and industry-leading reliability to our clients,” Lloyd Switzer, the company’s senior vice president of network transformation, said in a release.
The location was chosen in part because of the city’s proximity clean power – it lies at the junction of two branches of the Thompson River — a highly skilled workforce, and the climate.
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According to the Tourism Kamloops Web site, the city is the warmest municipality in the country, with more hot days above 30C than anywhere else. The city dates back to 1812 when a fort was established there.
Built to LEED environmental standards, Telus says the facility is one of the most environmentally sustainable Internet data centres in the world. An advanced cooling system takes advantage of Kamloops’ naturally low humidity to consume 80 per cent less electricity and 86 per cent less water than typical data centres, the carrier says.
That means it will require at maximum only 40 hours of mechanical cooling energy per year, says Telus, which will keep nearly 2,300 tons of carbon dioxide from the environment annually, the equivalent emissions of 10,000 Canadian households.
It has also received Tier III reliability certification from the Uptime Institute. Telus [TSX: T] also has a Tier III data centre in Rimouski, Que.