What Superman and data centers have in common.

With the ability to send data at lightning speed, the power to maintain high levels of uptime and strength to protect innocent people from becoming victims of cyber crimes, some data centers are similar to~superheroes in their commitment to creating a better, cleaner and fairer world.

Here are a few of their must-have qualities:

#1. High Tech Cooling Creating energy saving methods that are inspired by the natural environment is high on the agenda for world class data centers. In a shift away from traditional compressor-based and refrigerant-based cooling, Google’s~new Hamina data center pumps raw seawater directly from the nearby Gulf of Finland through an existing seawater tunnel. Its innovative sea water cooling system also minimises~environmental impact by taking the warm, used sea water to a tempering building where it is mixed with fresh sea water to a temperature similar to the inlet temperature before being returned.

#2. Clean Power Helping to keep the world green and clean is crucial for high flying data centers, whether that involves buying solar power or green power sourced from nearby wind farms. Apple, Facebook, Google, Rackspace, Salesforce and Box have all committed to 100% renewable power for their data centers. Microsoft last year committed~to imposing its own internal carbon marketplace and this year boosted its eco credentials by buying the entire output of a 110MW wind project in Texas. The move displaces coal and natural gas as energy sources and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

#3. Energy Efficiency Investing in custom-built, energy efficient servers as well as high tech cooling helps to keep the temperature on server floors pleasantly and consistently warm. In Google’s case this is a shorts and flip flop-wearing 80 degrees Fahrenheit – a far cry from temperatures outside Google’s Hamina data center in Finland in Winter, brrrr.~ Keeping the temperature down avoids energy-intensive air-conditioning and helps Google to use 50% less energy than typical data centers. It also helps prevent servers from overheating and outage problems.

#4. Conservation To further bolster their eco credentials, a world class data center can salvage an existing building from ruin, rather than build from scratch. Google’s Hamina data center a former paper mill in Southern Finland~is also helping to support an economy suffering the slow demise of the paper industry and downsizing of Nokia. More than 2,000 individuals working for 50 companies (mostly Finnish and from the local area) contributed to the first phase of this renovation project.

#5. High Security Where do we start. No self-respecting data center could call itself a data center without employing the highest levels of security. From security cameras and fingerprint scans to iris scans, data protection is at the top of every top notch data center’s list. Read our 5 things to consider when choosing a data center for more advice.