Core Data Centres - February 2021

MORE THAN JUST A BUILDING AND POWER IN ASSOCIATION WITH

CORE DATA CENTRES

DIGITAL REPORT 2021

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MORE THAN JUST A BUILDING AND POWER c o re da t a c e nt r es . com

CORE DATA CENTRES

Meet industry veteran Bill Henneberry’s new firm, co-founded with Jim Nikopoulos, CEO, a nimble newcomer to Canada’s data centre landscape providing scale and custom solutions in the age of digital transformation

B

ill Henneberry designs data centres in his sleep. The Chief Technology Officer of CORE Data Centres is only half-joking,

admitting that his work, a preoccupation that extends far beyond a means to make a living, is 04

never far from his thoughts. “I’ll be going to sleep at night and I’m already designing the next day’s work,” he says. “To a certain degree I’m always thinking of a design: how it can change and how it has to evolve.”

Data centres and colocation have been a fixation of Henneberry’s “before data centres were really even around”. He’s worked at “all the big companies” and consulted at many more, before founding CORE Data Centres with Jim Nikopoulos, CEO. Core Data is a relative new entrant to the market that nonetheless boasts an agile team of specialists with near unrivalled experience. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada’s snowier counterpart to Silicon Valley, the business was founded 16 months

2019

Year founded

15

Number of employees 05

c o re da t a c e nt r es . com

CORE DATA CENTRES

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“ DEMAND ISN’T SLOWING DOWN IN THE DATA CENTRE WORLD”

— Bill Henneberry, Chief Technology Officer, CORE Data Centres

ago with the underlying philosophy that

To illustrate the point, Henneberry

data centres should be ‘more than just

considers the growing pan-industry

a building and power’ - and a promise to

adoption of artificial intelligence. The

extend these values in its approach to

nascent explosion of interest in this

working with partners.

technology brings unique complexities,

“It’s not just about having a cookie cutter approach. We are not that rigid player that says, ‘because our business

many of which businesses are often illequipped to tackle on their own.

“I have clients who didn’t know how to

case says X, this is all we can do to

approach AI,” he says. “So we worked

make our money’,” Henneberry explains.

with them. We put the data centre

“And it’s not just space and power; we

together for them, and then as they

need to provide the right space and the

changed their philosophies on what

right power and the right cooling - and it

they required from a digital perspective,

all extends on from there.”

we can tailor for more power or more

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E X E C U T I V E P R O FILE :

Bill Henneberry Title: Chief Technology Officer Company: CORE Data Centres Bill is an Chief Technology Officer with Core Data Centres with experience covering various areas in the Data Centre industry. Over 30+ years of delivering complex projects and achieving successful outcomes for clients ranging from small business to large enterprises. His CORE expertise is in Data Centre construction, design and build, facilities operations, assessments, and Data Centre migration projects. Bill has manage over 500 + Data Centre build-outs, concept solutions and operations type projects or facilities. He holds a BSc and is an expert in Project Management with years of training in the Data Centre field and Telecommunications world. c o re da t a c e nt r es . com

CORE DATA CENTRES

“ IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT HAVING A COOKIE CUTTER APPROACH” — Bill Henneberry, Chief Technology Officer, CORE Data Centres

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cooling from our point of view. But just

“Clients now can get some indication

understanding the client’s demands

of where things should be by search-

and what they’re trying to do on that

ing online. But I always ask, ‘What’s

digital side impacts how we manage

the end goal? What quality is needed

the relationship with requirements.”

for the solution you’re trying to pro-

Cost is another “interesting” topic of

vide?’ One bullet is never going to fix

conversation customers often thrust

the problem, but we always have a

into the equation at the early stages.

backup plan. I treat everybody equally

Understandably, clients need to

and we’re very good at helping clients

understand how much the operations

understand the technical reasons

will impact their balance sheets, and

of why that element costs that price,

while Google can be a valuable tool in

even in the change order process.

estimation, Henneberry prefers a more

Explaining it at the executive level is

incisive course of action.

very important to understand why cost

“Montreal is saturated from a data centre perspective right now,” says Henneberry. “There’s so much supply that’s already there. So we focused on what was missing, and that’s why our Kingston project is a very strategic one. There’s a new fibre build from Montreal to Toronto that the hyperscale firms have demanded, but it has to go through somewhere, and it’s hitting Kingston. Our data centre is going to be a hub for that, and we’re an anchor tenant.”

An additional site is in Vancouver “where it’s hard to find land and good quality data centres”. Henneberry is a key factor, but not always the most

says the region has been undersup-

important factor.”

plied for some time, “So we thought

To better serve Canada’s thriving

we would beef up the supply, and as

business and finance hubs, CORE

the big hyperscale guys come along,

Data Centres has embarked upon an

or government agency demand ramps

ambitious greenfields development

up, we’re available.” That project is

project. A new site will open in Toronto

about three years out, he says, but

to serve the city and its surrounding

will become a key resource for CORE

areas as demand continues to rise.

Data Centre’s future development.

This will be joined by two further pro-

These projects, which will coincide

jects, both aimed at expanding supply

with the excavation and improvement

in strategic locations. One is situated

of major subterranean fibre cable cor-

in Kingston, between the Canadian

ridors, will take some time to come to

capital and Montreal.

fruition. In the meantime, CORE is also c o re da t a c e nt r es . com

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CORE DATA CENTRES

“ I WOULD NEVER TURN DOWN BUSINESS. EVEN IF I HAVE NO SPACE AVAILABLE, I WILL GIVE IT TO MY COMPETITORS. I DON’T WANT TO SEE ANYBODY WITHOUT A SOLUTION” — Bill Henneberry, Chief Technology Officer, CORE Data Centres 10

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tier one solution with a generator and a UPS, a bit of backup battery and some cooling,” Henneberry says. “We can deploy these pretty rapidly - although we sometimes run into slowdown from municipalities and government when running fibre - but I think from an edge perspective these are going to make a big, big difference going forward.

“Obviously from there it needs the home run to a real data centre - or a bigger data centre - and that’s where we play that strategic role as well,” he continues. “From the east coast to the deploying a variety of flexible, modular

west coast of Canada there are lots of

container data centres to support

small data centres dotted all over the

smart city initiatives across the coun-

place, and I’ve been a consultant over

try. Launched under the CoreBox

the years on many of those locations.

brand, these 20-40-foot scalable cen-

I have those relationships with those

tres will provide greater supply to rural

clients, so if somebody needs some

areas of Canada, and other enterprise

extra help here or there, I can work

districts beyond the bustling cluster of

with those guys.”

major cities situated just north of the Canada-US border.

The outbreak of COVID-19 and a shift to working from home, remote

“CoreBox is going to serve those

learning, and digital catch-ups with

more remote areas, and these will be

friends brought the critical role of data

set up in strategic areas to serve as the

centres into sharp focus. Increased

edge data centres. They’re relatively

demand for bandwidth and storage,

straightforward solutions, whether you

however, introduced a new set of high

want a tier three design, or a standalone

and low-tech issues. c o re da t a c e nt r es . com

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CORE DATA CENTRES

“ TO A CERTAIN DEGREE I’M ALWAYS THINKING OF A DESIGN: HOW IT CAN CHANGE AND HOW IT HAS TO EVOLVE” — Bill Henneberry, Chief Technology Officer, CORE Data Centres

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“Demand isn’t slowing down in the

downtown Toronto, for example. The

data centre world, but we had to

owners of these companies are trying

really change our protocols,” says

to figure out, ‘Okay, what do I do next?’

Henneberry. “We couldn’t just let any-

They’re increasing their bandwidth

body come into our centres without

because, as soon as you leave one loca-

being tested correctly or following the

tion, if you understand networking, and

protocols. That did slow us down with

you have it all over the place, it’s like a

regards to construction or retrofits or

different mesh network. You need to

just having anybody in the data centre

provide a different topology across the

doing what we would normally do.

board on how to connect everything. I’m

“What is changing mostly, though,

working on another project right now

is the way we think. There are a lot of

for a client where, we built an SD LAN

office buildings that are sitting there

solution for them, with firewalls and eve-

empty right now across the way in

rything, to all their remote locations.”

and doing sessions on the whiteboard, you’re missing out on those elements.

And I guess, as with everyone out there, keeping our own minds and sanity going is the biggest obstacle,” he admits.

“But from a data centre perspective in Ontario, and in Canada in general, our power costs are pretty high.

Everyone around the world has their challengers on specific things, but for us that’s power costs. We’re coming up with some solutions, going off grid a little bit and using generators as demand power. But there are inherent risks with shifting your loads round on a regular basis.”

So has demand outstripped CORE’s

Heneberry predicts a busy year

ability to supply? Is Henneberry turn-

ahead for the CORE team. The firm is

ing business down?

eyeing some potential M&A activity to

“I would never turn down business.

further solidify its growth, but its first

Even if I have no space available, I will

priority is serving clients: “As clients

give it to my competitors. Trust me. I don’t

come back to us with more demands

want to see anybody without a solution.”

and different situations, which they will,

Even in the fast and tech-driven data

we’re prepared and ready to deal with

centre field, the biggest obstacles

them accordingly.”

facing Henneberry and his team in the short term are the fundamental human principles of business.

“I think not having that face-to-face time with people is tough. Gathering c o re da t a c e nt r es . com

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CORE DATA CENTRES 22 ADELAIDE STREET WEST SUITE 3600 TORONTO ONTARIO CANADA M5H 4E3 E INFO@COREDATACENTRES.COM T 416-613-2142

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