Citadel100 is an Irish company that provides an extensive range of data centre services to Irish organisations. It is part of Keppel DC REIT, a Singapore based real estate investment trust whose purpose is to invest in building, renovating and managing income producing real estate. Citadels USP is to offer clients the data centre they want and can afford, and brings a range of financial options to the table to allow companies to invest in data centre facilities while minimising risk and outlay.
Citadel100 owns and operates one tier-III+ carrier neutral data centre. The facility is certified to ISO 27001 for Information Security and SLAs guarantee 99.99% on security and cooling, and 100% for power and space. On-site connectivity to multiple fibre carriers, as well as access to Dublins T50 backbone fibre network is all part of the package.
Citadels core services can be broken down into three main areas consulting, data centre services and infrastructure services. The consulting service is Citadels way of monetising its extensive data centre design and build experience. It can advise from the start, project manage the build, and even offer a full shell and core bespoke data centre building service.
Data centre and infrastructure services offer clients different ways of accessing colocation. Fully fitted out colocation suites with 100% uptime SLAs are on offer, as well as customised data halls, fitted out to exact customer requirements. All options benefit from the next generation technologies already in place in the building, including Control100, Citadels own data centre management and monitoring system.
Location
Situated on Dublins thriving Citywest Business Campus, Citadel100 sits shoulder to shoulder with a number of global blue chips, including Pfizer, Sony, Adobe and Eircom. It is within easy reach of Dublins M50 orbital motorway and lies just 30 minutes drive from both Dublin City and Dublin airport.
Citadel100 has upgraded the two storey, 65,000 foot square space over recent years (the shell is 18 years old). It has invested heavily in the latest power and cooling systems, with cooling arranged in an N+2 configuration. Power is N+N on external transformers, with an N+1 configuration for diesel generators. Independent dual electricity feeds provide up to 20MvA, with power densities of up to 2kw/m².
Citadel100 is highly secure, with an extensive alarm system, 24/7 CCTV and manned security. Primary and secondary exits are operated manually by the security team, so every entrant is vetted in person. Despite the access controls, Citadel100 do allow clients 24/7 access to their own equipment, and have provided comfort facilities and office space too.
Additional facilities at Citadels site include parking for up to 50 vehicles with further spaces available just off-site and two café areas, with tea stations spread throughout the data centre.
Energy
Citadel100 operates a strong environmental policy that balances 100% availability against energy efficient technologies. The policy promises continuous improvement too, so where new better technologies became available, or more reliable, Citadel will seek to incorporate them into the data centre in its quest to reduce its current Power Usage Effectiveness (PUE) of 1.4. In addition, Citadels new hall, which is yet to be built, is expected to incorporate Indirect Free Air Cooling. Customers within the data centre are able to implement energy efficient technologies on demand too, such as cold air containment within their own spaces.
As an endorser of the EU Code of Conduct for Data Centres, Citadel not only follow the voluntary practices laid out in the code of conduct, but actively promote them to both clients and other organisations. It is also a LIEN member of the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) and hopes to achieve ISO 14001 for Environmental Management in 2015.
Funding/business model
Citadel100 is ultimately owned by the Singapore-based Keppel Corporation through multiple subsidiary layers. Its direct parent is Keppel DC REIT Keppels real estate investment trust.
Customers and partners
Citadel100 hosts some of the most recognised blue chips as customers of its Dublin data centre, including Hewlett Packard (HP), 3 Ireland, euNetworks and Egenera. Many of its client trust Citadel to host mission-critical data and applications and so dont publicise their tenancies.
An affordable way to buy big data centre benefits
For bigger companies, Citadel100s offering is a great way to make data centre space low risk and affordable. Contracts are likely to be strict the new extension wont go ahead until someone commits to 10,000 square feet but that is offset against need to fund a multimillion pound facility that may or may not be a good long-term investment.
Citadels business model is attractive from both an investment and a client point of view. Large clients who dont want to, or cant afford to invest in creating a data centre from scratch can rent space within Citadel that can be configured as if it was their own for a fraction of the price. Citadel retains the real estate and can release the space over and over, rather than sell it just once.