Datacentres come in all shapes and sizes and for the most part, all perform a similar function of keeping the servers contained within them online.

‘Hyperscale’ is a type of Data Centre categorised by its large size and commonly regarded as having over 10,000 square feet of technical spaces and being able to house over 5000 servers. These huge data centres are frequently built by major cloud hosting companies such as Google, Amazon, Alibaba and Microsoft, or by private companies who rent entire data-halls out to them.

Below is an example of Hyperscale Data Centre for Google.

Most new data centres being created today are ‘Hyperscale’ and can be magnitudes larger than the accepted definition of 10,000ft and 5000 servers. The Switch ‘CITADEL’ Campus in Tahoe Reno, Nevada has over 1.3 million square feet with plans to grow this to approximately 7.2 million and 650MW to meet demand.

Characteristics of Hyperscale Data Centres

• Highly advanced design built from the ground up to be highly redundant, fault-tolerant, secure and meet the highest standards expected from industry
• Incredibly efficient & Environmentally friendly design with ‘Power Usage Effectiveness’ (PUE) metrics between 1.5 to 1.0 (perfect)
• High Density Racks and power delivery systems allowing more servers to occupy the same amount of space
• Built near power stations and even containing there own green power generation facilities
• Built near major intercontinental and undersea fibre optic cables