Our Data Centers

Our data center is located in the San Francisco Telecom Center, conveniently located just south of San Francisco's Financial District. This 100% occupied telecom building also houses AT&T and Verizon super nodes. The building was originally built in 1924 as a Marine Corps Depot for heavy equipment, so the five story structure is built of extra-thick, reinforced cast-in-place concrete. The building was seismically retrofitted in 1999 to convert the existing warehouse into a Telecom Center in accordance with San Francisco's Uniform Building Code, and then retrofitted a second time to exceed those standards by tenants AT&T and Verizon in accordance with their stringent telecom carrier standards.

• Secure building originally used for storage of military tanks and equipment
• Built on an outcropping of solid bedrock that also supports a tower of the Bay Bridge
• Seismically retrofit in 1999 to meet rigorous City of San Francisco building codes, then retrofit extensively by Verizon again
• Six separate fiber entrances with 2 fiber rooms. A large portion of the Bay Bridge Fiber Consortium terminates in the building (cross-bay Fiber)
• State-of-the-art redundant systems for power, HVAC, fiber connectivity, seismic precautions and fire suppression

Our state-of-the-art fire suppression has three levels of protection. Halon fire extinguishers are located throughout the data center. We also have a two stage TotalPac double interlocked dry-pipe preaction system, with tightly defined zones to isolate and extinguish any fires without affecting surrounding areas. This system must detect both smoke and heat to be triggered. The data center is protected by a grid of 200 sensors on the ceiling and 200 under the raised floor plus "VESDA" AnaLaser-brand laser smoke sensors that are 10,000 times more sensitive than conventional smoke detectors and capable of detecting incipient smoldering. The system is monitored 24 x 7 on-site and off-site by both GoGrid and Verizon NOCs.

• Halon Fire Extinguishers
• VESDA laser smoke detection with dry pipe suppression
• Tightly defined preaction zones for localized fire extinguishing
• Monitored and maintained by both GoGrid and Verizon

The San Francisco Telecom Center where our data center is located maintains the highest possible standards for physical security. This facility is home to only three tenants, Verizon, AT&T and GoGrid, and is equipped with state-of-the-art video and audio monitoring equipment and 24 x 7 on-site guards. All people entering the building are required to register with the security office and leave a valid ID while in the building. Those not on the access list are not allowed into the building without an escort. We check in visitors a second time prior to entry into our data center on the second floor. The GoGrid NOC is staffed 24 x 365 and is afforded a direct line-of-site view into the data center.

• 24 x 7 security guards at front entrance
• Secondary check-in at our second floor data center
• 24 x 7 systems administrators / NOC on the data center floor

GoGrid has tremendous cooling infrastructure, with dual redundant chilled water supply loops and multiple Liebert air conditioning units pumping cold air into the pressurized raised floor of our data center. Chilled water is provided by the roof cooling towers, which also provide chilled water for Verizon’s critical systems. Additional chilled water supply and return valves are already plumbed every thirty feet along the perimeter of our data center, allowing for rapid installation of additional Liebert units should increased cooling capacity be required.

• n+1 Liebert VACs w/n+1 supply loops and chillers
• Up to 300 tons of cooling capacity that runs on Verizon’s chilled water systems
• Raised floor system for efficient distribution of cooling

Our data center power is fed by conditioned UPS (uninterruptible power supply) electricity, with redundant feeds from dual 2 Megawatt generators that also support critical Verizon phone switches. One generator can power the entire building for several days time, and there is 20,000 gallons of reserve diesel fuel on site. These generators are tested monthly stringent protocols, and every third month the power is disconnected from the two utility feeds to ensure proper generator operation.

• Redundant power feeds with UPS power
• 2 x 2 megawatt generators that also power Verizon's local phone switches
• 20,000 gallons of diesel fuel on site, hot-refill ready

GoGrid operates its own screaming-fast network™, featuring multi-homed bandwidth with connections to over 40 networks. We route traffic over major Tier 1 Internet backbones such as UUNet, Level 3, NTT, and AboveNet with no low-quality bandwidth and plenty of network capacity for maximum reliability and scalability.

• Six separate building fiber entrances with 2 fiber rooms. The Bay Bridge Fiber Consortium terminates in the building (cross-bay Fiber).
• GoGrid has 2 separate fiber entrances on different streets (both Spear and Harrison) for an additional layer of redundancy
• Current Transit routed by GoGrid:
  • Above Net 10 Gig-E
  • Level 3 10 Gig-E
  • NTT 10 Gig-E

Equinix IBX centers are specifically designed to provide a robust power infrastructure with the highest level of reliability. The data centers provide a minimum N+1 redundancy for every power system, delivering the highest levels of uptime availability.

• AC and DC raceways with 2N distribution
• AC power delivery via distributed redundant UPS systems
• 48 hours worth of generator fuel and contracts with mulitple fuel providers
• Isolation K factor transformers used for 480 volt UPS to 208/120 volt. K factor of K20
• 80 degrees Centigrade rise; copper winding, DC system fuse protection; -48 volt delivery via fuse panels

As demand for power and cooling continues to increase, Equinix's state-of- the-art Heating/Ventilation/Air Conditioning (HVAC) system is a key feature of the data center.

• 13, 652 BTUH per cabinet
• Eight 750-ton centrifugal chillers
• Six variable primary chilled water pumps (N+2)
• Eight condenser water pumps (N+2)
• Eight cooling towers
• 40 air handling units in the colocation area

All areas of the center are monitored and recorded using CCTV, and all access points are controlled. The data center is staffed with 24-hour security officers to augment physical security features, providing the utmost protection of your mission-critical Internet infrastructure.

• On-site security 24x365
• CCTV digital camera coverage of the entire data center, with detailed surveillance and audit logs
• CCTV integrated with access control and alarm system
• All doors, including cages, secured with biometric hand geometry readers

Cutting-edge fire detection and suppression systems, which limit the potential for damage in the event of a fire.

• Multi-zoned, dry pipe, water-based fire suppression systems with sensory mechanisms (sniffers)
• Zoned, gaseous based fire extinguishing system
• Laser-based Very Early Smoke Detection Apparatus (VESDA)
• Dual alarms (heat and/or smoke)

The building is constructed above sea-level with no basement, and includes additional flood control features to ensure that equipment damage is minimized or prevented in the unlikely event of a flood.

• Tightly sealed conduits
• Moisture barriers on exterior walls
• Dedicated pump rooms
• Drainage/evacuation systems
• Moisture detection sensors

GoGrid operates its own screaming-fast network^TM, featuring multi-homed bandwidth with connections to over 40 networks. We route traffic over major Tier 1 Internet backbones such as Level 3, and AboveNet with no low-quality bandwidth and plenty of network capacity for maximum reliability and scalability.

• GoGrid has 2 separate fiber entrances for an additional layer of redundancy
• Current transit routed by GoGrid:
  • Above Net 10 Gig-E
  • Level 3 10 Gig-E

Robust power infrastructure with the highest level of reliability, providing more than N+1 redundancy, due to our distributed redundancy model.

• Electrical Capacity — 2.0 Kva/m2 with standard cold corridor cabinet configuration providing power densities up to 18Kva per cabinet
• UPS Topology — Distributed parallel redundancy from multiple LV boards
• Generators — Distributed redundancy configuration autonomy time of 2 days of full load of the data center

Cutting-edge fire detection and suppression systems, which limit the potential for damage in the event of a fire.

• Aspiration System — VESDA — very early smoke detection system
• Point Detection — Addressable analog point detection system using optical detectors operating a double knock protocol
• Fire Suppression — High-density fog, localized operation on a sprinkler-per-sprinkler basis

As demand for power and cooling continues to increase, Equinix's Heating/Ventilation/Air Conditioning (HVAC) system is a key feature of the data center

• N+1 Cooling Facility
• Cooling Plant — Cooling towers in N+1. Chillers in N+1. Cooling circuits in 2N. CRAC-units in N+2.

The Equinix facility provides multiple levels of security including Physical, Human and Electronic.

• Human — Staffed with 24x7 security officers
• Electronic — CCTV camera coverage with access control and integrated alarm system, all doors, including cages, secured with access card scanners
• Physical — Fireproof door, security officer in armored office window, secured mantrap, turnstiles to access data center and card reader for room entry

GoGrid utilizes multi-homed bandwidth from various connectivity providers to route traffic over major Tier 1 internet backbones.

• Two separate 10 Gig-E connections
  • AboveNet 10 Gig-E
  • Level 3 10 Gig-E