NTT Communications to Construct Osaka 5 Data Center

NTT Communications Corporation (NTT Com), the ICT solutions and international communications business within the NTT (NYSE:NTT) Group, announced today that it will begin constructing the Osaka 5 Data Center in the heart of Osaka, aiming at commencing operations in the first quarter of calendar 2016. The facility will offer approximately 3,700 m² of server room, equivalent to 1,600 racks.

This next-generation Osaka 5 Data Center will be the newest addition to NTT Com’s Nexcenter™ brand of data center service. It will provide high quality, cost efficiency and flexibility in cloud and colocation services that customers can use to create hybrid cloud environments connected to cloud infrastructure and virtual networks. NTT Com’s virtual networks incorporate SDN (software-defined network) and Open Flow technologies to enable users to change system configurations flexibly and on demand.

Low-cost operations realized with latest technologies and best practices

NTT Com, leveraging its vast experience and know-how concerning data center construction and global operations, has designed Osaka 5 Data Center with energy-efficient air conditioning systems that incorporate water cooling, end wall injection air conditioning and outdoor-air use to reduce power consumption.

The facility, which also features highly efficient power equipment, theoretically will be capable of a 1.3 Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) rating, which would be a first in the surrounding Kansai region and one of the highest levels in Japan. PUE is calculated by total power consumption divided by ICT equipment power consumption, so the lower the number the higher the energy savings. Current data centers target PUE ratings of under 1.5.

Compared to similar facilities, construction and operating costs will be reduced by some 30% through use of an existing building foundation, adoption of mega-structure designing to reduce steel consumption while maintaining rigidity, and a highly efficient facility layout.

Optimum disaster-recovery features for business continuity planning (BCP)

Located in the heart of Osaka, Osaka 5 Data Center will be easily accessible from multiple railway stations. Even if public transportation were not available during an emergency, the data center will be within walking distance of many principal areas of Osaka.

The building is seismically engineered to withstand earthquakes equal to the Kobe Earthquake of 1995 or the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011. It also is calculated to minimize impact to customer equipment in the case of large vertical movements that are forecast possibly to occur in an earthquake directly beneath the area’s Uemachi fault. Furthermore, the facility is connected directly to a large quakeproof communication cable tunnel that is designed to protect cables during earthquakes, as well as road construction.

The data center site is about six km from Osaka Bay and three km from the Yodo River, safe distances from tsunamis, floods and high tides. In the unlikely event that water were to reach the data center, the electric power equipment, communication facilities, server rooms and other important facilities will be placed on the second floor, seven meters above the ground level.

Electricity will be sourced from two separate power substations for highly reliable power supply. In addition, back-up power and office space of about 430 m² that comes with communication with server rooms could serve as a BCP base if a disaster were to strike Tokyo or another city where a customer has domestic operations.

Ideal network environment equal to Osaka’s Dojima area

Direct connection of optical fiber will be possible through cable tunneling and proximity to the Dojima area, the Kansai region’s major site for Internet exchanges. Customers will enjoy an uninterrupted, high-quality network environment equivalent to that of the Dojima area.

Osaka 5 Data Center, besides offering access to NTT Com’ high-speed, high-volume Internet backbone and global services such as the Arcstar Universal One virtual private network, also will enable flexible system expansion via interfacing with global data center and cloud services. Connected to Biz Hosting Enterprise Cloud via an SDN-supported colocation connection service, it will allow customers to create integrated hybrid-cloud environments unencumbered by cloud or colocation distances, or the overall system environment.

Looking ahead, NTT Com expects Osaka 5 Data Center to help meet growing concerns in Japan for unexpectedly powerful natural disasters and rising energy costs, which have led to rapidly increasing ICT outsourcing, disaster-recovery countermeasures and cloud computing. In response, NTT Com is adding data centers and expanding related services, especially in Osaka, where a growing number of financial and manufacturing companies are relocating headquarters or using facilities in Osaka to back up data centers in Tokyo.

About NTT Communications Corporation

NTT Communications provides consultancy, architecture, security and cloud services to optimize the information and communications technology (ICT) environments of enterprises. These offerings are backed by the company’s worldwide infrastructure, including leading global tier-1 IP network, Arcstar Universal One™ VPN network reaching 196 countries/regions, and over 150 secure data centers.

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