Quantum Loophole, Inc., developer of gigawatt-scale master-planned data center communities, has broken ground on the first of its campuses. The site, which will occupy more than 2100 acres in Frederick, MD, is designed to offer a nearby alternative to the increasingly crowded data center ecosystem in Ashburn, VA, for those looking to establish data center or colocation facilities.
The site will be designed to serve the needs of a variety of data center operators, including hyperscalers, as well as colocation service providers. The two-year campus construction project includes the installation of the necessary power distribution and underground power ducts, water and sewer pump stations and piping, underground fiber distribution ducts, roads and entryways, and several environmental projects.
A significant feature of the Frederick campus will the QLoop fiber network, which will provide connectivity to Ashburn as well as other locations. The conduit-based infrastructure will support more than 200,000 strands of fiber and offer connections with 20-ms latency to Ashburn. To aid the provision of rapid connectivity, the two networking centers on the campus will leverage Telescent automated robotic cross connects. The cross connects will enable connectivity creation in minutes without the need for truck rolls and other human intervention, according to Quantum Loophole.
Josh Snowhorn, founder and CEO of Quantum Loophole, described the campus effort and some of the connectivity requirements and challenges as part of a panel during Data Center Week, the online conference co-produced earlier this month by Cabling Installation & Maintenance, Data Center Frontier, and Lightwave (see https://endeavor.swoogo.com/datacenterweek/1940403; all sessions are available for viewing on demand). Aligned Data Centers is the first announced tenant for the campus.
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