Capacity + resilience
Utility service, transformers, UPS, generation, distribution, redundancy and maintenance.
DATA CENTER SYSTEMS
The data center
is the machine.
Power, cooling, network fabric, accelerators, racks, controls and 24×7 operations—one system delivering useful compute.
REVIEWED SEP 11, 2026PHYSICAL INFRASTRUCTURE
POWER · NETWORK · THERMAL · CONTROL
FROM GRID TO WORKLOAD
Every layer has to work at the same time.
A data center is not just servers in a room. It is a tightly coupled electrical, mechanical, network and operational system designed to deliver safe, continuous compute within capacity limits.
See the Northern Virginia corridor ↗INTERACTIVE / DATA CENTER STACK
01 / POWER
Utility capacity becomes compute capacity.
Grid interconnect, substations, switchgear, UPS systems, generators, batteries and rack distribution define the electrical envelope.
OPERATING MODEL
Design the facility. Operate the system.
Remove heat continuously
Airflow, chillers, heat exchangers, CDUs, liquid loops, water strategy and thermal telemetry.
Move data at fabric scale
Spine-leaf fabrics, optics, east-west bandwidth, out-of-band management and carrier connectivity.
Racks become systems
Accelerators, CPUs, memory, local storage, firmware, rack power and serviceability.
See the physical state
BMS, EPMS, DCIM, alarms, trending, capacity models and change control.
Keep it available
24×7 response, maintenance, spares, vendors, incident management, safety and recovery.
INTERACTIVE / CAPACITY LENS
Translate IT demand into facility demand.
A planning calculator for illustrating how rack density, PUE and reserved headroom affect facility scale. It is not a detailed electrical design.
EST. RACKS125PLANNED IT CAPACITY11.8 MWFACILITY POWER14.7 MW
CURRENT INFRASTRUCTURE LENS
Data-center electricity demand grew 17% in 2025.
The IEA says data-center electricity use rose sharply in 2025, with AI-focused facilities growing even faster. The operating implication is simple: power availability is now a first-order compute constraint.
IEA primary source ↗Advanced cooling is being tested for megawatt-scale racks.
DOE's COOLERCHIPS 1.5 program describes validation of water-free advanced cooling systems for AI heat loads up to 1 megawatt per rack.
DOE primary source ↗NORTHERN VIRGINIA
A front-row seat to the physical buildout.
Ashburn, Sterling, Leesburg, Reston and Manassas make the infrastructure chain visible: substations, transmission, fiber, campuses, construction, cooling, local approvals and community trade-offs.