Skip to content

TechRepublic

  • Top Products
  • AI
  • Developer
  • Payroll
  • Security
  • Project Management
  • Accounting
  • CRM
  • Academy
Resources
  • TechRepublic Premium
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • Newsletters
  • Resource Library
  • Forums
  • Sponsored
Go Premium
Popular Topics
  • Top Products
  • AI
  • Developer
  • Payroll
  • Security
  • Project Management
  • Accounting
  • CRM
  • Academy
  • Project Management
  • Innovation
  • Cheat Sheets
  • Big Data
  • Tech Jobs
View All Topics
Go Premium
Data Centers

Photos: The datacentre that sits behind a moat

By Nick Heath May 28, 2014, 9:18 AM PDT

Image
1
of 5

pic1.jpg
pic1.jpg
Photos: The datacentre that sits behind a moat

The cube

Image: Portugal Telecom

The cube

Sat outside the city of Covilha, at the foot of Portugal’s highest mountain range, is what will be one of Europe’s largest datacentres.

Surrounded by a moat, the 75,500 square metre site will eventually house four buildings offering 12,000 square metres of datacentre space.

From a distance the first facility to open on the site – a three-storey cube – appears to be floating on the water.

The moat not only captures the desire of the site’s owner’s, Portugal Telecom (PT), to create a distinctive design, but also reflects its environmental ambitions. The water creates a microclimate that cools the environment, as well as collecting rain for use in chillers.

The region is the one of the coldest in Portugal and the climate allows the centre to use fresh air cooling for 99 percent of the time according to PT, which expects it will need to run chillers for no more than six days of the year.

The datacentre runs at above average efficiency, with a 1.25 power usage effectiveness (PUE) rating. PUE reflects how much of the electricity used by a facility ends up powering the servers, rather than driving associated infrastructure handling cooling and power distribution. Some of the best PUEs worldwide are achieved by the likes of Facebook and Google, with Facebook reporting a PUE of around 1.05 at its Prineville datacentre.

Image: Portugal Telecom
pic2.jpg
pic2.jpg
Photos: The datacentre that sits behind a moat

Solar powered

Image: Portugal Telecom

Solar powered

Just under one third of the energy needed to run the site will be supplied by a photovoltaic power station sporting 1,610 solar panels.

Image: Portugal Telecom
pic3.png
pic3.png
Photos: The datacentre that sits behind a moat

Server farm

Image: Portugal Telecom

Server farm

Inside the first building to open on the site – a 55 x 55 metre cube – are six 520 square-metre data halls. Each hall can house about 260 racks of servers, with a density of about 2.2kW per square metre. Altogether the six data halls can house more than 50,000 servers.

The centre is a tier III facility, designed to ensure 99.98 percent annual availability.

Image: Portugal Telecom
pic4.jpg
pic4.jpg
Photos: The datacentre that sits behind a moat

At the foot of the mountain

Image: Portugal Telecom

At the foot of the mountain

Portugal Telecom chose to site the datacentre in Covilha not just because of its low temperatures during winter, but also because of its low seismic activity.

PT estimates that some 1,400 jobs will be created by the u20ac90m site.

Image: Portugal Telecom
pic6.png
pic6.png
Photos: The datacentre that sits behind a moat

Cloud services

Image: Portugal Telecom

Cloud services

The facility will underpin Portugal Telecom’s cloud services and will serve clients who use its software-as-a-service, platform-as-a-service and infrastructure-as-a-service offerings.

Image: Portugal Telecom
  • Data Centers
  • Account Information

    Share with Your Friends

    Photos: The datacentre that sits behind a moat

    Your email has been sent

Share: Photos: The datacentre that sits behind a moat
Image of Nick Heath
By Nick Heath
Nick Heath is a computer science student and was formerly a journalist at TechRepublic and ZDNet.
  • Account Information

    Contact Nick Heath

    Your message has been sent

  • |
  • See all of Nick's content

Daily Tech Insider

If you can only read one tech story a day, this is it.

TechRepublic TechRepublic
  • TechRepublic on Facebook
  • TechRepublic on X
  • TechRepublic on LinkedIn
  • TechRepublic on YouTube
  • TechRepublic on Pinterest
  • TechRepublic RSS
Services
  • About Us
  • Newsletters
  • RSS Feeds
  • Site Map
  • Site Help & Feedback
  • FAQ
  • Advertise
  • Do Not Sell My Information
  • Careers
Explore
  • Downloads
  • TechRepublic Forums
  • Meet the Team
  • TechRepublic Academy
  • TechRepublic Premium
  • Resource Library
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Editorial Policy
  • Legal Terms
  • Privacy Policy
© 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All rights reserved.
CLOSE

Create a TechRepublic Account

Get the web's best business technology news, tutorials, reviews, trends, and analysis—in your inbox. Let's start with the basics.

Already registered? Sign In
Use Facebook
Use Linkedin

* - indicates required fields

CLOSE

Sign in to TechRepublic

Not a member? Create an account
Use Facebook
Use Linkedin

Lost your password? Request a new password

CLOSE

Reset Password

Please enter your email adress. You will receive an email message with instructions on how to reset your password.

Check your email for a password reset link. If you didn't receive an email don't forgot to check your spam folder, otherwise contact support.

Back to login
1 Finish Profile
2 Newsletter Preferences
CLOSE

Welcome. Tell us a little bit about you.

This will help us provide you with customized content.

No thanks, continue without
1 Finish Profile
2 Newsletter Preferences
CLOSE

Want to receive more TechRepublic news?

Newsletter Name
Subscribe
Daily Tech Insider
Daily Tech Insider AU
TechRepublic UK
TechRepublic News and Special Offers
TechRepublic News and Special Offers International
Executive Briefing
Innovation Insider
Project Management Insider
Microsoft Weekly
Cloud Insider
Data Insider
Developer Insider
TechRepublic Premium
Apple Weekly
Cybersecurity Insider
Google Weekly
Toggle All
No thanks, continue without

You're All Set

Thanks for signing up! Keep an eye out for a confirmation email from our team. To ensure any newsletters you subscribed to hit your inbox, make sure to add [email protected] to your contacts list.

Back to Home Page
×