Rittal Deploys Europe’s First Open Compute (OCP) Experience Center in Amsterdam

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The initiators of the European OCP Experience Center in Amsterdam, from left to right: Menno Kortekaas (Circle B), André Hiddink (Rittal B.V.) and Edgar van Essen (Switch Datacenters)

Data Center solutions vendor Rittal has deployed an Open Compute Project (OCP) Experience Center in Switch Datacenters’ AMS1 facility in Amsterdam in joined cooperation with OCP solutions provider Circle B. This OCP Experience Center with a fully-functional OCP environment is available as a demo center, but may also be used for testing new ‘OCP Accepted’ and ‘OCP Inspired’ data center environments and telco solutions.

Open Compute Project was founded by Facebook, RackSpace and Microsoft and the OCP principles form the basis on which many hyperscalers operate their data centers. By adopting OCP designs in their data centers, large enterprises and governments would be able to benefit from the same advantages as the hyperscalers: “cost reductions, lower energy usage and much more flexibility.”

As a large and well-known manufacturer of infrastructure solutions for data centers on a global scale, Rittal is designing, manufacturing and selling racks and cooling solutions that are based on OCP designs. Within the technology sector, IT managers at large enterprises and governments in the European region have yet to adopt OCP principles on a large scale though. That’s why Rittal, in joined cooperation with Circle B and Switch Datacenters, has now opened this demo center for the European market.

For more information on Rittal’s OCP-based data center solutions, visit their website here.

OCP Ecosystem

Circle B is one of the first European channel partners for the Open Compute Project that recently acquired the status of OCP Solution Provider. Solution Providers are a special group of companies within the OCP ecosystem. They develop, test, deliver and support ready-made systems and environments based on OCP designs. Switch Datacenters is a Netherlands-based carrier-neutral data center provider with its AMS1 facility built according to OCP design principles. An integral part of Switch Datacenters’ OCP-based layout is their highly scalable, indirect adiabatic cooling with direct heat recovery using a heat exchange technology developed and patented by Switch Datacenters. The UPS technology and power distribution in Switch AMS1 are also carried out according to OCP standards.

The European OCP Experience Center being launched by Rittal, Circle B and Switch Datacenters is aimed at helping IT managers and data center managers to fully understand the impact of OCP designs on their data center operations. The experience center will also allow them to test specific OCP-based solutions that are relevant to their IT environments.

“It’s exciting to see how the European Members continue to drive OCP across the region by bringing the region’s first OCP Experience Center,” said Steve Helvie, VP of Channel for the Open Compute Project Foundation. “Circle B, Rittal and Switch Datacenters have put together a great showcase for open hardware designs and it highlights the strength of each member in delivering OCP solutions throughout Europe.”

The European OCP Experience Center is located close to Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport. The opening of this experience center coincides with the first annual OCP Regional Summit, being held in Amsterdam today and tomorrow at the RAI Exhibition and Convention Center.