Page 32 - ITAtube Journal 2/2019

Technical Papers
SICP – Software Innovation Campus Paderborn
WindCORES – Digital Transformation with Renewable Energy
Figure 1: View inside the tower of the wind turbine
Using renewable energy for data centers is a well-known challenge and topic. Plants that use biogas, geothermal heat or water are already in operation. A novel idea where innovative and obvious fusion of wind energy with the service of IT hosting are combined laid the foundation for the project WindCORES. The purpose of wind turbines can be more than gen- erate ecological and renewable electricity. Wind turbines provide the exible, economical and sus- tainable solution for operating IT systems that is often lacking. Thus, wind turbines are becom- ing an important element in the digital transformation of com- panies and administrations that need or want to operate their IT safely, easily and cost-effectively.
To address the before mentioned challenges, the joint patent-pend- ing concept WindCORES has been developed in cooperation of the Software Innovation Campus Pad- erborn (SICP) of the University of Paderborn, WestfalenWind IT, InnoZent OWL e.V., Innofactory GmbH and the dtm group. The IT Systems are located within the pillar of a windmill. WindCORES offer IT systems a secure loca- tion and the supply of renewable energy. From single racks spread among independent WindCORES upto exclusive use– your bene t: According to any customer spec- i cation requirements WindCORES can be newly developed and indi- vidually con gured within a very short time. The strength of the patented WindCORES architecture is an innovative exibility that ful lls all standards with its cus- tomized modular solutions.
Based on the WindCORES concept, in Lichtenau Germany’s rst com- puting node and data storage could be built in a wind turbine, which is in operation since October 2017. In Lichtenau, WindCORES recon- ciles renewable energy and the increasing energy requirements of computer systems: four reproof IT safety cabinets are installed at the foot of the 13 meter wide and 150-meter high reinforced con- crete tower of the wind turbine, each housing 62-height units (see Figure 1). The wind turbine sup- plies the computers with electric- ity directly on site and thus has a further bene t in addition to the generation of green electricity. In addition, the operating costs
ITAtube Journal No2/May 2019
32