Now THIS is a Data Center

With 407,000 square feet of space, 30 cooling towers, and more than 7,000 cabinets the SuperNAP in the Las Vegas area will be the world's highest density (for the time being) data center. It will eat up more power than three Las Vegas casinos put together, but some innovative power and cooling plans will help keep the center running and cool.

In the coming months, a little known technology giant called Switch Communications will open the SuperNAP. This 407,000 square foot computing compound will house servers and storage systems owned by many of the world's most prominent companies. And, unlike most centers of its kind, the SuperNAP will not rely on raised floors or liquid cooling systems to keep the hardware humming. Instead, it will be fueled by custom designs that allow it to maintain an astonishing 1,500 watts per square foot - or close to three times the industry standard.

As for the cooling innovations:

The facility will make use of a custom Switch concept dubbed the T-SCIF or Thermal Separate Compartment in a Facility. The T-SCIF is sort of like a little shack for hardware. Customers slot their systems into the unit with the front half of the hardware sticking out into the main data center room and the back half sitting inside the T-SCIF. This approach makes sure that only cooled air reaches the front of servers and storage boxes, while all of the hot air is released into the sealed T-SCIF and then expelled through a series of ducts.

A Cisco executive gives Switch some nice props in the article.

Thanks to Alex at the ISP-Planet blog for the tip.