Project Background
The project at Switch & Data consisted of expanding the existing data center from the basement and 1st floor levels to the 2nd floor, keeping in mind allowances for a future 3rd floor expansion. The 4-story structure is an old historical bank building in the center of Downtown Palo Alto. The building is partially wood and partially concrete construction. The amount of internet traffic at the time of construction was estimated at 20%, so the existing data center had to remain live at all times

Project Requirements
The existing data center was served by four rooftop air cooled chillers and a primary / secondary pumping scheme.  The new design consisted of custom chillers and a primary only pumping scheme.  Also, the original design had custom fabricated chillers and air handlers in order to meet the loading requirements of the rooftop.

What ACCO Delivered
ACCO, in conjunction with Meade Construction, developed a strategy to provide standard equipment and eliminate the requirement for costly custom equipment. Not only did ACCO eliminate the custom equipment, but we also eliminated the need for any rental chilled water equipment, and/or the need for any shut downs.
All the new rooftop equipment needed to be installed on a new steel platform located on the roof in the same place the existing equipment was installed.  The existing roof piping, generators, boiler, air compressors, etc. had to be removed in a sequence that would not disturb the cooling to the data center floors below.  Temporary chilled water piping was installed all across the roof to allow the old piping and equipment to be removed, and the new platform and chillers to be installed.  The change over of the new chilled water system from the old was seamless and we did not have any downtime.  The project change over was deemed successful from the general contractor, ACCO, and most importantly the client.