The key partner for the crypto miner
Navigating the complexities of crypto mining FOLLOWING A SHIFT TOWARDS HOSTING SITES AND DATA CENTRES FOR THE CRYPTO MINING WORLD, EVOBITS I.T. LOOKS SET TO CAPTURE THE EUROPEAN MARKET DALE BENTON PRODUCED BY LEWIS VAUGHAN WRITTEN BY
T
echnology has always been a difficult beast. As the world continues
to become more and more defined by technological innovation, industry sectors all over the world face the challenge of navigating this complex and challenging space. In recent years, the eyes of the world have turned towards cryptocurrency, and in turn crypto mining. More and more organisations are investing money into blockchain, bitcoin and other forms of digital currencies, but this is still a relatively unknown realm. This is where Evobits Informa-
“But last year the company evolved and Evobits IT branched into the actual mining of
tion Technology SRL comes in.
cryptocurrency itself but doing it a little dif-
Created in 2014 on the back of
ferently.”
a spike in demand for cryptocur-
Silviu has spent his entire career in the IT
rencies, Evobits IT worked
and technology space, working specifically
primarily in programming the
in programming and IT consulting. Evobits IT
systems and solutions behind
is the second company Silviu has founded,
cryptocurrencies.
the first being centred around systems pro-
“We created different crypto-
gramming before moving into the blockchain
currencies for clients and different
programming and cryptocurrency business.
software for cryptocurrency min-
Where Evobits IT intends to act differently
ers,” says Silviu C. Balaci, CEO
and disrupt this growing market is in combining
of Evobits IT.
its hosting with its software abilities, allowing
“ W E’RE NOT JUST BUILDING WAREHOUSES AND THROWING A BUNCH OF GEAR IN THERE,” HE SAYS. “HOSTING CRYPTO MINERS IN A PROFESSIONAL DATA CENTRE AND ALLOWING FULL CONTROL OF THEM IS THE DIFFERENCE. WE BUILD SOME OF THE MOST EFFICIENT DATA CENTRES IN THE WORLD BY USING INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES SUCH AS THE NEW INDIRECT EVAPORATIVE COOLING SYSTEM FROM VERTIV (A TECHNOLOGY USED BY BIG NAMES IN THE INDUSTRY: MICROSOFT)” — Silviu C. Balaci, CEO of Evobits
customers to receive full control and trans-
tures at under 65C, we have an
parency. Evobits IT builds real, physical data
average GPU temperature of
centres and hosts crypto miners within them.
under 50C and we do this while
“We’re not just building warehouses and
keeping the PUE under 1.10. We
throwing a bunch of gear in there,” he says.
also offer full miner control: our
“Hosting crypto miners in a professional data
clients decide what to mine and
centre and allowing full control of them is the
where to mine, they can even
difference. We build some of the most effi-
decide the software that they
cient data centres in the world by using
want to run. There is no other
innovative technologies such as the new Indi-
crypto mining operation that
rect Evaporative Cooling System from Vertiv
does this in the world.”
(a technology used by big names in the
Cryptocurrency is a commod-
industry: Microsoft). Where most mining
ity, and like any commodity, it’s
operations struggle to keep GPU tempera-
cyclical in nature. The company w w w. e v o b i t s i t . c o m
behind the cloud data centers efficiency solutions innovative design
We create, design, innovate, deliver and maintain exquisite complete solutions for your data center Why INNOVA? Because we have the knowledge, experience, expertise, best certified and trained specialized personnel to: design, deliver and maintain data centers and technical rooms, based on the latest technology and offering tailored solutions for a successful project.
104-106 Stirbei Voda Street, district 1, 010119, Bucharest, Romania tel +4021 420 02 22 fax +4021 420 00 32 e-mail office@innovaengineering.ro
was founded off the back of a spike in cryptocurrency, but Silviu admits that the cyclical nature is something that he and Evobits IT must be prepared for. This is where Evobits IT can work closely with clients, as this is still a growing and somewhat unknown technology. Silviu feels that people and companies are investing into cryptocurrency without understanding the technology behind it. “Everyone cared only about the cryptocurrency side of things and the value of it,” he says. “Nobody was really interested in the technologies behind it. At Evobits IT, we work to make clients understand that there is much more to this crypto-world than just the digital coin.” Silviu points to a number of companies that have almost redefined their strategies to incorporate blockchain or cryptocurrency, going as far as adding the two into company names in order to tap into this booming market. This has changed how Evobits IT works with companies. No longer is it a case of just explaining what the technology behind cryptocurrency and crypto mining is, now Evobits works with customers to help them understand that the technology is no silver bullet and it should be used when there is a clear business case. “You cannot use it for everything just because
“IT’S BOTH SCARY AND BEAUTIFUL. THERE IS LITERALLY NOTHING STOPPING EVERYTHING FROM CHANGING TOMORROW BUT WE ARE WELL POSITIONED, AND THAT’S BECAUSE WE HAVE REAL DATA CENTRES AND A STRONG DEVELOPMENT TEAM BEHIND IT” — Silviu C. Balaci, CEO of Evobits
it’s now in your company name, or strategy,” he says. “It’s just not made for that.” As Evobits IT continues to develop the programming technology behind cryptocurrencies, currently working on a beta stage payment system for the transfer of funds, the company is significantly expanding its data centre capabilities. Evobits IT currently has a couple of data centres finished and operational: a 1 MW facility and a highly efficient 3.5 MW facility, for a total of 4.5MW. By the end of this year, Evobits IT hopes to expand this further by adding an extra 15 MW before looking to build another facility in excess of 20 to 30 MW, but this is something that Silviu admits is “further down the line”. As with most data centres all over the world, location is king. “Location can be split into two important areas – proximity to utilities such as power stations and fibre for network connectivity,” says Silviu. “But we also need to be located near a major city. This helps bring in a workforce and if it’s near an international airport, this opens new doors in terms of attracting clients.” Attracting clients is crucial. Silviu notes that the cryptocurrency market is very opaque, meaning it is susceptible to scams. To this end, Evobits IT will invite potential partners and clients to its data centres in order to
FACT
Extremely efficient data centres allowing us to achieve a PUE of under 1.10. Very low temperatures for the GPUs: an average of under 50C. Individual Miner control with auto-balancing software: if a miner goes offline, another is automatically assigned to take its place. Highly efficient mining system: from custom BIOS that maximizes power efficiency to custom mining software that lowers “uncles rate” to under 15% (the average is over 25%)
dispel any fears and to highlight what the company does that no other currently claims to do. “A lot of important potential partners already visited us: nVidia, AMD, XFX, Sapphire, Gigabyte, Vertiv. When they see what we build and how we do things their tone changes completely, it simply opens a lot of doors that otherwise would have been shut,” says Silviu. Evobits has struck a key strategic partnership with Innova Engineering SRL, a Romanian company which provides consulting, design, implementation and maintenance across all ranges of IT (hardware and software) and telecommunication equipment, turnkey data centre execution. Through this partnership, in which the company has already built a 3.5 MW data centre in Romania (which is almost the entire yearly data centre market share of Romania), Evobits IT has been able to cement its status as key player in the data centre space. “When we first started out in data centres, nobody wanted to talk to us because we had no proven experience in this market,” says Silviu. “Everybody wanted to take advantage of us and nobody was really interested in building a long term partnership, they were just interested in short-term gains.” “But working with Innova on our second Romanian project, everything changed. There are many challenges in what we do because w w w. e v o b i t s i t . c o m
we always operate our data centres to
is keen to note that the company is
maximum capacity, so everything needs
finely positioned should there be
to be properly planned: from cooling
a sudden shift in the volatile market
capacity to power distribution to air
of cryptocurrency.
volume. It’s extremely important to have
Silviu notes that even as a man with
partners like Innova, ones who will look
such an extensive history in the tech-
at you as a long-term partner and will
nology space, there is always an
join you along this growth journey.”
uncertainty surrounding the future
As Evobits IT looks to the future, with a number of data centre facilities already
of cryptocurrency. But it’s not something he fears. “It’s
planned for construction and to come
both scary and beautiful,” he says.
online over the next few years, Silviu
“There is literally nothing stopping eve-
“BUT WORKING WITH INNOVA ON OUR SECOND ROMANIAN PROJECT, EVERYTHING CHANGED. THERE ARE MANY CHALLENGES IN WHAT WE DO BECAUSE WE ALWAYS OPERATE OUR DATA CENTRES TO MAXIMUM CAPACITY, SO EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE PROPERLY PLANNED: FROM COOLING CAPACITY TO POWER DISTRIBUTION TO AIR VOLUME. IT’S EXTREMELY IMPORTANT TO HAVE PARTNERS LIKE INNOVA, ONES WHO WILL LOOK AT YOU AS A LONG-TERM PARTNER AND WILL JOIN YOU ALONG THIS GROWTH JOURNEY” — Silviu C. Balaci, CEO of Evobits
rything from changing tomorrow
separates us from others: if something hap-
but we are well positioned, and
pened, it wouldn’t kill us and we wouldn’t put
that’s because we have real data
a lock on it and walk away. We invest more
centres and a strong develop-
today to have the security of tomorrow, no
ment team behind it.
matter what tomorrow will bring.
“If everything did crash tomor-
“Having highly efficient physical data cen-
row and cryptocurrency vanished
tres allows us to, with minimal investment,
entirely, we can turn our atten-
open up the door to another sub sector of
tions to repurposing our data
this market, and that gives us an incredible
centres into colocation hubs or
edge moving forward.”
data processing centres. “That’s what’s key and what
w w w. e v o b i t s i t . c o m
Evobits Information Technology SRL Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Nr. 3, Resita, Caras-Severin, Romania contact@evobitsit.com www.evobitsit.com